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United Presbyterian
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Jamaica
Old Calabar
Kaffraria
Rajputana
Manchuria
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2016
https://archive.org/details/missionsofunitedOOunit
^Missions
of the
United ‘Presbyterian Church
described in a
Series of Stories
I. The Story of the Jamaica Mission
With Sketch of the Mission in Trinidad
By GEORGE ROBSON, D.D.
II. The Story of the Old Calabar Mission
Br WILLIAM DICKIE, M.A.
III. The Story of the Kaffraria Mission
By WILLIAM J. SLOWAN
IV. The Story of the Rajputana Mission
By JOHN ROBSON, D.D.
V. The Story of the Manchuria Mission
By Mrs. DUNCAN M'LAREN
(BMnburglj
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1896
PRINTED BY
MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED
EDINBURGH
R&Q
yb
# / '5 J5 a
/- 5”
INTRODUCTION.
— ♦ —
There have now been published by the Foreign Mission
Board the Stories of our five principal Missions. Written
by different authors, four of whom had a personal
acquaintance with the fields they wrote about, these
Stories aim at giving in a popular form a sufficiently
full account of each Mission. But the history of the
missionary enterprise of our Church covers a somewhat
wider range.
The movement which gave birth to the Secession
Church was essentially a spiritual movement. It sought
the vindication and diffusion of the truth of the gospel.
When the- Associate Presbytery had been constituted at
Gairney Bridge on 5th December 1733, earnest calls for
a supply of gospel preaching began to pour in from all
parts of Scotland, as well as from England and Ireland ;
and the Fathers of the Secession, while endeavouring to
satisfy the requests of their countrymen at home, were
also nobly alive to the spiritual needs of their country-
men abroad. Before twenty years had passed, they had
begun that missioning of ministers and licentiates to
Pennsylvania, Few York, Nova Scotia, and Canada,
which helped, in the early days of these colonies, to lay
iii
iv fiffrobuction
the foundations of the Presbyterian Churches now
flourishing there.
The Relief Church had its origin in the noble stand
made by Thomas Gillespie for evangelical truth and
congregational rights against ecclesiastical intolerance.
The “ Presbytery of Relief ” was constituted at Colins-
hurgh on 22nd October 1861 ; and in seeking to carry
the gospel into, destitute parts of Scotland, in sending
ministers to the colonists across the Atlantic, and in
furnishing missionaries to the Missionary Societies, the
Relief Church, like the Secession, manifested the impulse
of a missionary spirit.
The Foreign Mission Revival, which took place in the
end of last century, did not at first bear fruit in the way
of church action. It gave birth to the Scottish (Edin-
burgh) and the Glasgow Missionary Societies, and to
numerous other missionary societies throughout the
country, which were practically auxiliaries to these and
to the London Missionary Society. It was through this
free operation of the missionary spirit that the people
received the training which prepared them for welcoming
the principle of a Church mission. Then, when con-
troversy on other questions rendered it difficult for
members of different denominations to maintain cordial
co-operation in the work of the Missionary Associations,
the various Churches found it easy to take over the
Missions in which they were specially interested. So
the Missionary Societies in Scotland gave place at length
to the better order of Missionary Churches.
How our own Church entered on its various missions
may here be briefly indicated. The movement for the
abolition of slavery awoke concern in Christian hearts
for the spiritual needs of the slaves in Jamaica. In 1835
JJnfrobuttion
v
the Secession Church sent its first missionaries to labour
amongst them, alongside of the missionaries of the
Scottish Missionary Society. So Jamaica became our
first foreign mission field. As the emancipated negroes
realised the blessings of the gospel, they became desirous
of sending it to their kindred in Africa, from whom they
had been torn away. Hence arose the Old Calabar
Mission, founded by the Secession Church in 1846, with
the cordial support of the Relief Church. In the
following year the Secession and Relief Churches united
under the name of the United Presbyterian Church, and
immediately thereafter our Church took over the Jamaica
Mission of the Scottish Missionary Society, amalgamating
it with our own, and also the Kaffraria Mission of the
Glasgow Missionary Society, which had been chiefly
supported by the Relief Church. The Indian Mutiny of
1857 awoke the Christians of Britain from their apathy
to the spiritual well-being of the heathen millions of
that vast dependency ; and one result was the inaugura-
tion in 1860 of our Rajputana Mission. A remarkable
train of providences led to our beginning work in
South China in 1862, and in 1872 in the northern
province of Manchuria, where our China Mission was
ultimately concentrated. The rise and progress of the
work in each of these fields is the subject of a separate
Story.
But we have representatives also in other fields. The
wonderful opening of Japan induced our Church to enter
in, in 1873, along with other Churches and Societies, to
plant the gospel in that promising land ; but the course
of events has devolved upon other Churches the leading
part in propagating it there. We still maintain our
Mission in Japan, but it is in fields more exclusively our
VI
fntrobudioit
own that we are called to seek the expansion of our
missionary efforts. We also bear a limited, but welcome,
share in Foreign Missions carried on by other Churches.
The Rev. Dr. Laws is our representative in the Living-
stonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland ; and our
obligation to seek the evangelisation of Israel is recog
nised by our sustaining the Rev. John Soutar in the
Galilee Mission of the Free Church, and one of the staff
of the Aleppo Mission of the Presbyterian Church in
England. We also provide an annual subsidy to the
Irish Presbyterian Church for the carrying on of mission
work in Spain, a field where we formerly laboured, but
where we deemed it right to terminate our separate
organisation.
In each Story will be found the statistics of that
particular Mission. Here it need only be said that, in
all, “ we have a staff of 154 fully trained agents, of
whom 70 are ordained European missionaries, 14 medical
missionaries, 19 ordained native pastors, 12 European
evangelists, and 39 Zenana missionaries; while under
the superintendence of these agents there are 170 native
evangelists, 383 native teachers, 121 native Zenana
workers, and 45 other native helpers. In connection
with our various Missions we have 109 congregations,
with 175 out-stations at which services are regularly
conducted, and at many of which congregations will soon
be formed. These 109 congregations have an aggregate
membership of 19,949, with 3644 candidates for admis-
sion to the fellowship of the Church ” (Annual Report,
April 1896).
The history of our Foreign Missions furnishes striking
evidence of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as well as
numerous illustrations of heroic devotion and noble
girtrobuction
vii
service, and of Divine blessing upon the Church’s
obedience to her Lord’s great command. The truth of
this will be apparent to the attentive reader of the Story
of each Mission. And it is earnestly hoped that the
perusal of these Stories will call forth more fervent
gratitude to God for what has been wrought in the
past, and stimulate to more faithful service in praying
and in giving, that the work may go forward from year
to year to the greater glory of God.
GEORGE ROBSON,
Convener of the Home Committee of the
Foreign Mission Board.
Avgust 1896
{Missions of the
United Presbyterian Church
THE STORY
OF OUR JAMAICA MISSION
WITH
Sketch of our Trinidad Mission
GEORGE ROBSON, D.D.
(Bitiitlnirrtlj
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1894
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
PREFACE
The story of our Jamaica Mission lies within a larger
story — a chapter of Divine Providence in respect of a
section of the African race, the purpose of which is not
yet unfolded. This conviction has shaped the subse-
quent narrative. A true view of our mission enterprise
in Jamaica requires not only a certain knowledge of the
history of the island, and of the history of slavery and
its still surviving influences, but also a continual outlook
upon the material and social surroundings to which the
progress of our mission work stands related. The length
of the time and the width of the field to be covered
have rendered it almost impossible to introduce into
the narrative such particular illustrations and incidents
as enliven the published biographies of Jamaican
missionaries. But I have sought to tell the story so as
to make it also in some measure a “ handbook ” to our
Jamaica Mission.
A grateful acknowledgment is due to the Rev. John
Moore, B.D., Old Meldrum, who undertook the labour
of preparing the chronological tables.
G. R.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
PART I
THE STORY OF OUR JAMAICA MISSION
PREFACE 5
L THE STORY OF THE COLONY DOWN TO THE PRESENT
CENTURY 9
It. THE INTRODUCTION OF EARLIER MISSIONS . . 18
III. THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR MISSION . . . .25
(a) SCOTTISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY ... 25
(b) SECESSION CHURCH MISSION .... 31
IV. THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES ... 37
Y. FROM THE DATE OF EMANCIPATION TO THE FIRST
SYNOD IN 1849 43
vi. from 1849 to 1866 58
vii. from 1866 to 1893 6S
VIII. THE JAMAICA OF TO-DAY: ITS NATURAL ASPECTS
AND PRODUCTS 80
IN. THE JAMAICA OF TO-DAY : ITS PEOPLE AND SOCIAL
PROGRESS . 90
X. THE PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF OUR
JAMAICA MISSION' 98
8
Contents
CHAP. PAGE
PART II
THE STORY OF OUR TRINIDAD MISSION
I. THE STORY OF THE COLONY 104
II. ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE MISSION . . 107
III. THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF
THE MISSION 113
APPENDICES.
1. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE JAMAICA MISSION . 118
2. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE TRINIDAD MISSION . 133
3. QUINQUENNIAL TABLE OF STATISTICS OF JAMAICA
MISSION 135
THE STORY OF OUR WEST INDIAN
MISSION.
PART I
THE STORY OF OUR JAMAICA MISSION
CHAPTER I
STORY OF THE COLONY DOWN TO THE PRESENT CENTURY
It was during liis second voyage to tlie New World, on
3rd May 1494, that Christopher Columbus
Discovery. .
discovered Jamaica.
As he approached the north-eastern shore, and landed
at St. Ann’s Bay, the splendour of the mountains and
Name the ^uxur^an^ beauty of the scenery suggested
to him the name of Santa Gloria. He found
the island peopled by Caribs 1 of a gentle type and
1 The Caribs, who at this time peopled most of the West
Indian islands, were of a light copper colour, and generally
distinguished by a daring and independent spirit. A simple
change of “ r ” to “ 1 ” converted the name Carib into the Spanish
word for “dog,” and by that epithet the Spaniards usually
described them. Hence the name “Caliban” in Shakespeare’s
Tempest.
9
10 (L be ^tortr of our Sttlcst |ubiatt $tlissioir
friendly temper, exhibiting a superior form of barbarous
life. From them he learned that the native name was
Xaymaica — “ land of woods and waters,” — a name so
felicitous, as well as distinctive and euphonious, that it
easily maintained its position both in Spanish and in
English.
Not less distinctive is the situation of Jamaica.
From the promontory of Yucatan, in Central America,
a chain of islands stretches eastwards, with
Situation.
a slightly southern inclination, for some
1500 miles, and then curves due south towards the
mouth of the Orinoco, in South America. Cuba is
the first and largest island of the chain, and lies just
under the tropic of Cancer ; eastwards the islands
gradually lessen in size ; while the part of the chain
running south has the appearance of a breakwater of
innumerable islets warding off the waves of the Atlantic
from the enclosure of the Caribbean Sea. Within this
enclosure, as if it were the guarded jewel of the sea, lies
Jamaica, due south of Cuba and west of Hayti.1 In
shape its outline resembles a seal swimming due west.
Having a length of 144 miles, and a breadth varying
from 21 to 49 miles, it contains an area equal to rather
less than a seventh of Scotland.
For more than a century and a half Jamaica was held
by the Spaniards, whose merciless treatment of the
„ aborigines rapidly exterminated them, and
English so induced the importation of slaves from
colony. Africa to supply the needed labour. The
Spaniards proudly claimed an exclusive right to all the
lands of the Hew World ; and this right they sought to
enforce in the West Indies, by perpetrating wholesale
1 Between 17° 43' and 18° 32' lat. N., and 76° 11' and 78° 20'
long. W.
j?toqi of ffjt Colonn bo ton fo fbe |)rrsrnt Crnlurg 11
atrocities upon English settlers in different islands. To
put an end to such cruel arrogance, Cromwell despatched
an expedition to the West Indies in 1655 ; its sole
success was the capture of Jamaica. Three years later,
the Spanish Governor who had surrendered the island
made a strong attempt to recapture it, but the attempt
was signally defeated, and the name of Runaway Bay,
in St. Ann’s Parish — so called because from thence the
defeated Spaniard fled in a canoe to Cuba — commemor-
ates the disappearance of the Spanish power from the
island. In 1661, Jamaica may be said to have been
formally enrolled as a colony of England, as in that year
General D’Oyley received from Charles II. a commission
as Governor of the island, with provisions for consti-
tuting the government, while a Royal proclamation
declared the children of English subjects born in
Jamaica to be “ free denizens of England.” The popu-
lation of the island was then little more than 3000, the
half of whom were slaves.
Very soon after the establishment of English govern-
ment, new settlers arrived. Out of many agricultural
_ . . . industries then prosecuted, the cultivation of
tory of the sugar rapidly assumed the lead, and yielded
colony. large profits. From this time, until Canada
and Australia began to loom into importance, Jamaica
was prized as the richest of British colonies. The list
of Governors contains some names of highest rank in the
peerage, and others eminent in history. At first Port
Royal was the residence of the Governor, but as early
as 1664, Spanish Town became the seat of government.
There, in January 1664, an Assembly was convened ;
and from that time a Legislative Assembly has, with
only brief intervals, continued to frame the laws of the
colony and to watch over its interests. Collisions were
12
<£bc §tovjj of our ®tst fnbiau fission
not infrequent between the Assembly and the higher
powers. The rich and masterful colonists would not
brook any curtailment of their privileges, and in their
contentions with the Governor or appeals to the Crown
they were generally successful. The history of the
colony for at least a century and a half presents hardly
one noble feature. It is little better than a history of
the eager and in large measure unscrupulous pursuit of
material wealth, and of the evils and conflicts which
naturally followed.
In the island itself, the getting of wealth through the
cultivation of its fertile soil was polluted by the in-
humanities of slavery. Immediately after
Slavery. . J J
the discovery of the New World, the demand
for labour in its mines and plantations, of which the
Western nations of Europe were rapidly taking posses-
sion, gave an immense stimulus to the traffic in slaves
from Africa. This traffic was at first promoted most
actively by the Spaniards, but in 1562 Sir John
Hawkins engaged English ships in it, and thereafter it
became a recognised department of English commerce.
At least four companies were formed in succession, each
of which possessed under Royal charter the sole right to
traffic with Africa, but they were unable to exclude
other traders, and none survived for any length of time.
The Revolution of 1688 threw the trade open, and from
this time it flourished. In the year 1771 no fewer
than 192 ships sailed from England for Africa (107 of
these from Liverpool), with provision for the transport
of 47,146 slaves. The entries show that from 1700 to
1786 the number of slaves imported into Jamaica alone
was 610,000, or an average of 7000 a year.
However considerate some of the planters may have
been in their treatment of their slaves, it is undeniable
Sdorg of the dtolong bofnir to the present (Ceuturj) 13
Troubles from
slavery.
that the mortality among the slaves was enormous ;
immorality was universal ; and the oppres-
sions practised by the masters provoked
from time to time reckless revenges on the
part of the slaves, and fomented continually the peril of
wider disturbance. Slaves were always escaping into
the mountainous parts of the island, where there were
already alien bands, composed of the descendants of the
mixed breed of Spaniards and blacks. These, known
as the maroons, lived practically the life of freebooters,
and at recurring intervals became so aggressive that
regular military operations were resorted to for their
suppression. Under an able leader called Cudjoe, the
maroons proved so formidable, that Governor Edward
Trelawney, in 1738, wisely solved the difficulty by arrang-
ing a treaty with them, and settling them on lands
assigned to them in different parts of the island. An
outbreak of the Trelawney maroons in the end of the,
century issued in 500 of them being deported to Sierra
Leone. Of the various insurrections of the slaves
during this century, the most serious took place in St.
Mary’s Parish in 1760. It began in a midnight
massacre of the whites on different estates, to the
number of between thirty and forty, and ended after a
brief struggle in the infliction of a merciless retribution.
Three ringleaders were reserved for death by special
torture : one was burned alive ; two others were hung
in chains on Kingston Parade to die of starvation after
eight or nine days.
But the acquisition of wealth was pursued also in
another direction. At the end of the long
of*Port Royal SP^ land known as the Palisades, which
encloses the magnificent harbour of Kings-
ton, stands Port Royal, a favourable centre for com-
14
(Flic $torn of our <§lcst Nubian IWission
mercial or naval operations. In the latter part of the
seventeenth century it was celebrated as the finest town
in the West Indies, the “wealthiest and wickedest” in
the world. It had become the headquarters of a
system of privateering which was no better than legal-
ised piracy, and which brought to Port Royal not only
the pillage gotten upon the seas, hut also the spoils of
A STREET IN KINGSTON TO-DAY, WITH VIEW OF THE PALISADES
IN THE DISTANCE.
marauding expeditions to neighbouring shores. The
inhabitants revelled accordingly in an ill-gotten wealth,
far exceeding the gains brought to them by legitimate
commerce. In 1692, in the climax of its pride and
luxury, an awful earthquake all but annihilated the
town : whole streets disappeared into the earth, nine-
tenths of the buildings were destroyed, and 3000
£torg of tbc Colong bolon to % present Centnrg 15
of the inhabitants perished. Eleven years later,
when beginning to recover from the disaster of the
earthquake, it was laid in ruins by a fire, which spared
only the royal forts and magazines ; and seventeen
years later, when a second attempt to restore the town
seemed about to succeed, a fearful hurricane swept
many of the buildings into the sea, left only six mastless
ships out of fifty that had been riding in the harbour,
and finally reduced Port Royal to a mere dependency
and naval defence of Kingston, which rose into existence
upon the first destruction of the Port by the earthquake.
But Port Royal was by no means the only sufferer.
At various intervals, the whole island, or large portions
of it, were devastated by hurricanes, earth-
quakes, and tidal waves. In 1740 a huge
tidal wave swept over the town of Savannah-la-Mar, and
in an instant wiped out man, beast, and habitation, “ as
a man wipeth a dish and turnetli it upside down.”
Catastrophes like these mingle in the story of human
avarice and crime like signals of Divine judgment.
Jamaica has also been menaced by the storms of war,
and the names of several of England’s naval heroes are
Threatened associated with the defence of the coveted
invasions of colony. An invasion by the French fleet
the island. under Du Casse, in 1694, projected in the
interests of the exiled Stuart dynasty, was ultimately
defeated by the colonial militia. In 1702 occurred the
famous sea-fight in which the same French admiral
was engaged for five days by Admiral Benbow, but
escaped on the eve of capitulation in consequence of
the cowardice of two of the English captains, while the
gallant Benbow returned to Port Royal to die of his
wounds. When France in 1778 became the ally of the
United States in the War of Independence, the French
16
®Ijf $torn of our ®Icst fitbtmi fission
fleet captured some of the West Indian possessions, but
did not attack Jamaica. Spain joined France in this
alliance, and the Governor of Jamaica forthwith des-
patched a successful but resultless expedition against the
Spanish citadel in Nicaragua ; in a subordinate command
in this expedition Lord Nelson began his naval career.
Three years later, Admiral Rodney won his peerage by
the great victory which shattered the French fleet when
on its way to effect a junction with the Spanish fleet,
preparatory to the invasion of Jamaica. More than
twenty years afterwards, the French and Spanish fleets
again threatened Jamaica, but Lord Nelson chased them
° :Y
from their course ; and in the following year, 1806,
Admiral Duckworth routed the French fleet off St.
Domingo, and brought the captured prizes to Port Royal.
The hold of Britain upon this lucrative colony was thus,
although often menaced, successfully maintained.
During the eighteenth century Jamaica had steadily
grown in importance and wealth. Towards its close the
, fortunes of the planters were probably at
At the begin- .. 1 1 J
ning of the their zenith. A remunerative market was
century1111 °Pen t° them ; the supply of slaves was
plentiful. In the island there were upwards
of 300,000. So prosperous was the island, that in 1798
the colonists voluntarily subscribed a million sterling to
aid the mother-country in the war against France.
But the prosperity of the planters was linked to
many evils. The frequent wars between the powers
holding possessions in the West Indies occasioned a
baleful revival of privateering, piracy, and other lawless-
ness, familiarising that region with ghastly crimes and
organised plunder.1 In the island the sugar trade was
1 This period i.s vividly portrayed in Michael Scott’s novels,
Tom Cringle’s Log and The Cruise of the Midge.
§torg of tbc Colong irotou to tlje present Crnlurg 17
king. Tlie paradise of capital was the inferno of labour.
Religion was visible only in occasional formalities ;
profanity and immorality abounded. The slaves were
kept in brutish ignorance, doubly victimised by their
own heathen superstitions and by the vices of their
owners.
There appeared, however, omens of impending
change. In 1 808 the African slave trade was abolished.
The wars occurring immediately thereafter closed the
market to the planters,, and together with the devas-
tating storms which 'swept the island at this time
occasioned much financial distress, while there was
much suffering among the slaves. Already, too, the
mother-country had begun to interpose between the
planters and their slaves- in the interests of humanity.
2
CHAPTER II
THE INTRODUCTION OF EARLIER MISSIONS
During all this time the provision made for religion in
connection with the Church of England was absolutely
„ . , destitute of a missionary character. The
Establish- commission of Charles II., appointing
meiit. Colonel D’Oyley first Governor, instructed
him, amongst other things, “ to discourage vice and
debauchery, and to encourage ministers, that Chris-
tianity, according to the Church of England, might
have due reverence and exercise.” Twenty years later,
the Jamaica Assembly passed an Act fixing the salaries
of the rectors for each of the fifteen parishes. Towards
the close of the eighteenth century the salaries were
augumented, and made payable out of the public
treasury instead of from parochial assessments ; at the
same time it was made a legal requirement — the anti-
slavery agitation had begun at home — that the clergy
should “ instruct all free persons of colour, and slaves
who might he willing to he baptized and informed in
the tenets of the Christian religion.” Even at this
time, however, several of the parishes were still wholly
destitute of churches. Many of the rectors notoriously
degraded their sacred office. In general, they winked
at the vices of the whites, and utterly ignored the
religious needs of the blacks. Occasionally the slaves
were marshalled, without instruction or explanation,
18
®jj£ |ntrob«ttion of (Karlin: fissions 19
before the verandah of the “great house,” when a
wholesale sprinkling with water imparted to them a
meaningless baptism. The State provision for religion
was not of a kind fitted to advance it. Nothing was
further from the real aims of the colonial Government
than the evangelisation of the thousands of African
heathen under its care.
The Moravians were the first to recognise in the
natives of Jamaica a field for gospel labour. The very
first of the magnificent series of Moravian
TheMora- missions was to the slaves in the Danish
vians.
island of St. Thomas in 1732. While
entering other fields in various parts of the world, they
still pushed forward their work in the West Indies, and
in 1754 they sent Zechariah Caries and two others to
Jamaica to preach the gospel on the Bogue Estate in
St. Elizabeth. It was a hard task. The very existence
of slavery rendered the situation inherently difficult,
while all the contentions on which slavery rested con-
fronted the missionaries with active opposition. But
in the patience of faith they opened additional stations,
and laboured according to their opportunities.
The next Europeans to enter Jamaica as a field for
gospel labour were the Wesley ans. Dr. Thomas Coke,
the devoted associate of the Wesleys and
ieyar^eS' the “ flying angel” of Wesleyanism, sailed
in 1786 to settle three missionaries hi Nova
Scotia ; but, being driven by stress of weather to
Antigua, Dr. Coke was led in the providence of God
to begin the Wesleyan mission to the West Indies. In
1789 he visited Jamaica, and prepared the way for the
first Wesleyan missionary, the Rev. William Hammett;
20 (The j$torg of our fullest Jirbrau fission
and by two subsequent visits, in 1792 and 1793, in both
of which lie travelled across the island, he laid the
foundations of an extended work. The headquarters of
the mission being in Kingston, the Wesleyan mission-
A SUGAR ESTATE.
aries were more directly exposed to public notice than
the Moravians in the west. The fear and anger excited
among the planters by their labours, and by other
similar labours occurring at this time, occasioned the
®lje |utvoiJucfion of Earlier fissions
21
most determined measures for tlieir suppression. An
Act was passed in tlie Assembly in 1802, making it
illegal to preach to the slaves. All religious services
by unauthorised persons, or at unauthorised times, were
prohibited. John Williams of Morant Bay, a free man
of colour, was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment
with hard labour for praying and singing hymns.
Several of the regular ministers also suffered imprison-
ment for conducting religious services. The Wesleyan
chapel, built on the Parade at Kingston, was closed by
the town authorities, and worship prohibited from
1807 to 1815. So intense was the antagonism to every
movement which recognised the claims of the coloured
population to civil and religious equality with the whites !
Even before the Wesleyans entered Jamaica, a
humble negro, who had been bimself a slave, came
from America to carry the gospel to his
The Baptists. J ° 1
kinsmen in bondage. This was George
Lisle. His former master, a British officer, was one of
a few who about this time liberated all their slaves.
Lisle, while earning his living as a carrier, developed
gifts as a preacher, and was appointed pastor of a
coloured congregation of Baptists in the United States ;
but he resigned his charge, that, along with one or two
others “ like himself in spirit and training,” he might
convey the solace of the gospel to the Jamaican slaves.
He had large audiences, and a brick chapel was built
for him in Kingston ; but he was soon charged with
seditious practices, and thrown in chains into prison.
A native barber, named Moses Baker, took up the work.
Sincere and devoted, he soon acquired great influence
among his followers ; but he was silenced, and his
work disorganised, by the prohibitory legislation already
oo
(The Shorn of our ®cst fnbkm fission
referred to. Unhappily, the crude ideas and imperfect
knowledge of these uneducated Native Baptists tended
to disparage the written Word, introduced not a few
superstitious forms into the Christianity they taught,
and led to practices that at the time and for long
afterwards exercised a very injurious influence.
Baker corresponded with Dr. Bylands of Bristol, one
of the band of Christian men who were carrying
forward the anti-slavery agitation, and earnestly urged
on him the sending of a preacher from England. At
length, in 1814, the Baptist Missionary Society sent
out the Bev. John Bowe, who found, however, no
liberty to disseminate the gospel except through quiet
labour in a day-school, and died two years afterwards,
just when liberty to preach was on the point of being
conceded. He was followed by others, who extended
their labours in all directions through the island.
Together with the Wesleyans, the Baptist missionaries
had to bear the brunt of the antipathy and persecution
directed by the propertied classes against those tvho
aimed at the liberation of the slaves. The very ignor-
ance of the slaves, and their impatient excitability,
rendered it oftentimes peculiarly difficult to appear as
their champions. But the task was fulfilled loyally, and
for the most part judiciously. Most prominent in this
connection was the Bev. William Knibb,1 who upheld
the cause of the slave, not always with discretion, but
with a fearless courage, publicity, and persistency, which
frequently exposed him to serious peril, but won for
him in the end widespread recognition.
1 Mr. Knibb landed in Kingston in 1825, to succeed his brother
as a teacher. He shortly afterwards became a minister, and died
in 1845, in the forty-second year of his age. His funeral, on
the day after his death, was attended by upwards of 8000 persons.
. '
CHAPTER III
THE BEGINNINGS OF OUR MISSION
Our present mission had a twofold origin : first, in the
mission of the Scottish Missionary Society; and secondly,
in the mission of the Secession Church.
The enthusiasm inaugurated by the departure of
William Carey for India gave birth in Scotland to
Scottish missionary societies in Glasgow and Edin-
missionary burgh, the latter of which assumed the
SOCIETY °
name of the Scottish Missionary Society.
Founded in 1796, it sent out Peter Greig in the
following year to Sierra Leone, the Rev. Henry Brunton
in 1802 to Tartary, and the Rev. Donald Mitchell in
1822 to India. Hor was it unmindful of the obliga-
tions of Scottish Christianity towards the enslaved
children of Africa in Jamaica. As early as 1800 it
sent out the Rev. Joseph Bethune and two
catechists to Kingston, but Mr. Bethune
First mission
unsuccessful.
and one of the catechists died within a few
weeks of a malignant fever then raging, and the other
catechist found his efforts so completely hindered by
the legislative enactments already referred to, that he
accepted a post as a teacher. Even after legislative
hindrances were removed, there were serious difficulties
in the way. Ko freedom of access could be had to the
26 fljc Utorg of ouv (lOlcst fitbian HUssion
slaves without the consent of the planter, no measures
organised for their benefit without his approval. The
planters generally regarded the missionaries as pestilent
agitators. The situation was aggravated by the
absenteeism of many of the proprietors. The immense
fortunes acquired in Jamaica could be much more
pleasantly enjoyed at home. Accordingly a large pro-
portion of the estates were under the management of
attorneys and overseers, who felt none of the exemplary
obligations of proprietorship, and sought only to please
their principals by the amount of the annual profit.
Such absenteeism was, of course, generally detrimental
to the interests of the slaves. But indirectly it gave
rise to the Presbyterian mission. Amongst the slave-
owners were some to whom the ownership
A new mission ,
proposed. °f slaves was involuntary and unwelcome.
Their estates had come to them by inherit-
ance, and in the position to which they had succeeded
they desired to promote the welfare of the human
beings who were in law their property. Direct acts of
emancipation by individual proprietors entailed results
which made them shrink from such a policy. Some
owners resident in Scotland, notably the well-known
family of the Stirlings of Keir, approached the Scottish
Missionary Society in 1823 with a proposal that the
Society should send out missionaries to the slaves on
their estates, and that they, the owners, should bear
half the expense. The proposal was cordially accepted,
and the Rev. George Blyth was appointed a missionary
to the slaves. Three years before, Mr. Blyth had
entered on mission work in Tartary, but he had been
compelled to abandon his post in consequence of re-
ceiving an Imperial order to that effect, and had
returned home with the view of proceeding to India,
®be Ihgumiiigs of our |$[tssicrn 27
when the call to go to Jamaica was placed in his
hands.
Mr. Blyth landed in the island in February 1824.
The editor of a colonial paper advised the magistrates
to send him back to Scotland by the ship
Rev^G SBiytu° ™ which he had come out, if they wished
to preserve the ' island from assassination
and bloodshed ; but by the attorneys of the gentlemen
who were co-operating in the mission he was courteously
HAMPDEN CHURCH (FRONT VIEW), SHOWING ENTRANCE TO
GALLERY.
received, finding an open door and an ample field. The
estates of Hampden and Dundee, in the parish of Tre-
lawney, on the undulating plains which lie at a slight
elevation inward from the towns of Montego Bay and
Falmouth, became the centre of his work ; and at
length, on 23rd June 1828, there was opened for
worship, on a site granted by A. Stirling, Esq. of Iveir,
on his estate of Hampden, a commodious and substantial
28
«E be ^torj) of ouv Sliest Inbuilt mission
stone church, erected through the liberality of Mr.
Stirling, Mr. Stothert, proprietor of Dundee, and other
proprietors, together with aid from Scotland. The
various prayer meetings throughout the
district were now formed into a congre-
The first con-
gregation.
gation, and on the following Sabbath 70
persons, the majority of them slaves, sat down at the
Lord’s Table, Mrs. Blytli assisting her husband in the
HAMI'DEN CHURCH ('SIDE VIEW), SHOWING ENTRANCE TO AREA.1
distribution of the elements. This was the first
foundation of the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica.
Already in the previous year two other missionaries
had reached the island. The Rev. James Watson
began work at Lucea, a town beautifully situated at
the head of a lovely bay towards the western extremity
1 It will be noticed that we have selected for illustrations the
church of the first congregation in each Presbytery.
(L be ^rginnings of our fission
29
of the northern shore.1 He speedily extended the work
other stations Gbeenisland, a seaside town still farther
begun by the west, of which the Rev. John Simpson
Society. became in 1831 the first minister. Mr.
Watson’s companion, the Rev. John Chamberlain, went
eastward to Port Maria, and after two years’ labour
formed a congregation there, which in two years more
LUCE A CHURCH.
erected a handsome church. One of the resident
proprietors, who had shown himself friendly to mission
1 When he was put ashore, a complete stranger, on the beach,
the first person he accosted was a little coloured girl whom he
found playing there. She joined his Sabbath school as soon as
it was begun, and early became a member of his congregation.
When I visited Lucea in 1S90 she was still hale and well,
universally esteemed, and by none more than Mr. Risk Thomson,
our missionary there, as one who gave herself to prayers for the
work of God in the congregation.
30
CIk Sdorg of oui' SScst |ubimi UTissiou
work among the slaves, was Mr. Barrett, who owned
the Cinnamon Hill and Cornwall Estates to the east of
Montego Bay. When the Rev. Hope M. Waddell
arrived in the island in 1829, he visited various places
offering an opening for work, and, to the great joy of
Mrs. Barrett, an earnest Christian lady, gave the
preference to these estates, and was accommodated in
PORT MARIA CHURCH.
the Estate residence at Cornwall. Three years later,
the Rev. John Cowan began work at Carronhall,
and in the same year, 1832, these six brethren
formed themselves into the Jamaica Mission Pres-
bytery.
At home the operations of the Scottish Missionary
®bc IjSeghutMgs of our ^fission
31
THE
SECESSION
CHURCH.
Society were not receiving the support they merited.
The income was declining. That it was
only an Edinburgh society, while Glasgow
had its separate missionary society, was a
source of weakness ; and not less so was the fact that
in adopting an undenominational basis, after the
example of the London Missionary Society, it lacked
the true adjustment to the conditions of Church life in
Scotland. Men of insight were perceiving that the
Church itself was the true missionary society, and that
the organisation of the Presbyterian Church, especially
in its freedom from State restriction, was peculiarly
favourable to the prosecution of foreign missions. The
propriety of engaging in foreign missions had for some
time been discussed in the Secession Church ; and at
„ , length, on 15th September 1831. at a meeting
foreign mis- of Synod addressed by the Rev. George
sion- Blyth, the Church resolved to enter on a
foreign mission. In the following April the Synod
instituted its Canadian Mission,1 but delayed from one
half-year to another 2 * * the selection of a held among a
different race. The Jamaica Mission Presbytery, how-
ever, sent home a strong appeal to the Synod to send
out a mission which should co-operate with their own
in meeting the rapidly increasing and clamant openings
Resolves on a for tlie g0SPel- A second time a missionary
mission to from Jamaica, the Rev. Hope M. Waddell,
Jamaica. pleaded the cause before the Synod ; and
on the same day, 10th September 1834, the Synod
1 Previously to this, and from an early period, ministers and
probationers had been sent out to supply the spiritual needs of
our countrymen in the United States and in Nova Scotia, and
also one or two to Canada.
- The Synod then met half-yearly, in April and September.
32
a be %tonr of our Safest fnirrau fission
resolved to send at least two missionaries to the .
West Indies. The Rev. James Paterson, who had for
sixteen years been minister of Anchtergaven, hut was
only thirty-six years of age, a man of considerable
talent, devoted zeal, and most amiable disposition, at
once offered himself for the work. The second to be
appointed was Mr. William Niven, probationer, who
was ordained to mission service by the Presbytery of
Forfar.1 They landed in Jamaica in March 1835.
While they were -on the outward voyage, the congre-
gation of Broughton Place, Edinburgh, undertook the
Arrival of support of Mr. Paterson as their missionary
Messrs. Pater- in the foreign field. At first lie laboured
son and Niven. for npie morJhs, with great acceptance, in
Montego Bay^ where Mr. Blyth had for two years been
preparing the way. But there were large districts in
the island where the gospel had never been preached, and
seeing that the Montego Bay district was not so entirely
destitute, Mr. Paterson felt that- he must go where the
need was greatest. He crossed the island to the estate of
Cocoa Walk, on the wooded slopes of Manchester, above
the southern shore. The proprietor, who was resident
hr England, had authorised the attorney to grant the
_ , . , “ great house ” to a missionary for residence
NewBroughtonor church; or both. In the district there
station. wag a }arge population, to whom the gospel
was utterly unknown; and there, under a spreading
plum-tree, the site of which is marked as a historic spot,
Mr. Paterson began to preach to them the glad tidings
of great joy. Instruction in Christian truth, education,
1 It is a little remarkable that both these missionaries were
taken away in the very midst of their usefulness by sudden
death, the one killed by an accident on land, the other drowned
in a hurricane at sea.
33
®Ije §rgimuttgs of our pissiou
and training in worship and other duties had to be
begun from the very foundations amongst the hundreds
desirous of a better life. After one year and ten months,
on 30th October 1837, a congregation was formed by
the reception of 54 out of the candidates’ class into
church membership; and on the following Sabbath,
5th November, the Lord’s Supper was for the first time
dispensed among them. In the following January the
NEW ‘BROUGHTON CHTJB.CH.
foundation-stone of a church was laid ; and to the new
station was given the name of New Broughton.
Mr. William Niven settled at Morgan’s Bridge, which
occupies a central position in the south-western part of
the island. Around him was a population
The first con- r r
gregation of of between four and five thousand souls, con-
the new nected with thirteen sugar estates and three or
four pens (stock farms), and entirely destitute
of any religious ordinances beyond the reading of the
3
34 S’torji of our (fitcsi Nubian Ulission
Church of England service on one of the estates once
a fortnight by a neighbouring teacher. The earnest
preaching and incessant labours of Mr. Niven resulted
in the early formation of a class of candidates ; and
on 2nd April 1837 a congregation was formed by
the admission of 27 to church membership, and the
congregation commemorated together the Lord’s
death. This was the first missionary congregation of
the Secession Church which had been gathered out of
Stirling.
Other mis
sionaries
follow.
heathen ignorance and vice. A church was afterwards
built at Stirling Park, in the immediate neighbourhood
of Morgan’s Bridge ; hence the station received the name
of Stirling. Possibly the name was adopted
the more readily that the Presbytery of
Stirling and Falkirk had undertaken to support Mr.
Niven as their missionary in Jamaica.
Within less than a year after the arrival of these two
missionaries in the island, they were followed by the
Bev. Peter Anderson, who was sent out by
Regent Place congregation, Glasgow. He
found a promising opening in Nassau, an
estate in one of the beautiful valleys which run among
the hills ” inland from Falmouth, but, being required
ere long to quit that estate, he purchased a permanent
location for the mission in the neighbouring pen of
Bellevue, where a substantial stone church was after-
wards erected by Regent Place congregation. A year
later (January 1837), the accomplished and saintly
William Jameson arrived on the field, as the missionary
agent of Rose Street congregation, Edinburgh. He
was attracted by its spiritual destitution to Goshen, a
secluded place among the hills, where the parishes of
St. Ann and St. Mary march. On the Sabbath after
his arrival there, he preached in the boiling-house of the
®be beginnings of our fission
35
Estate works to an audience of over five hundred, many
of whom came round him at the close, saying, “ Tank
you, massa, good massa. We soon he able to read good
book now, since minister come.” In the same year the
Rev. James Niven arrived. He took up the work at
Flowerliill, an out-station which had been started by his
brother in connection with Stirling, and by adding to it
a new work at Cross Paths he laid the foundations of
two congregations, which were afterwards united into
one at Friendship, where Lord Holland had offered
ground for a church and school.
It will be noticed that Mr. Paterson was the only
missionary of the Secession Church who broke ground
Co-operation in a re8'ion entirely distinct from that
between the occupied by the missionaries of the Scottish
two missions. gociety . the others settled down in fields
alongside of the latter. There was the friendliest co-
operation between them. All the missionaries of the
Scottish Society were, in fact, ordained ministers of the
Secession Church. Already, in January 1836, the
Jamaica Mission Presbytery was reconstituted on a
basis which united the ordained members of both
missions in the sacred work of organising and building
up the newly-founded Presbyterian Church of Jamaica.
What was the moral condition of the island in those
years when slavery was drawing to its close ? The
people were immersed in gross ignorance ; marriage was
almost unknown, even among the whites, at least in the
country districts ; the Sabbath was converted into a day
of traffic ; the grinding routine of slavery was relieved
at “ Crop-over ” and Christmas-time by boisterous revels,
such as the masquerading John Connu processions, and
the “ sets ” of “ Reds ” and “ Blues ” that paraded about
36
®Ijc Sforg of our lllcst |nbum fission
in tawdry finery and witli clamorous din, as well as by
dances too often associated with licentiousness ; deceit
was cultivated as the natural weapon of the oppressed ;
pilfering was universal ; and the debasing superstitions
of Africa were taught and practised in secret, although
the fear of punishment hid them from the eye of over-
seer and owner. “ In all valuable knowledge the people
were little superior to the beasts ; in practice they were
the followers of the father of lies.”
CHAPTER IV
THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES
Since the latter part of tlie seventeenth century all that
was best in Britain had been turning against slavery.
The poet Cowper voiced the sentiment that was to shape
the future. In 1772, Lord Mansfield pronounced the
famous judgment in the case of the negro Somerset,
brought before the court by the interposition of Gran-
ville Sharp, that as soon as a slave set foot in England
he was free. In that judgment lay the
anoipaUon! 8erm of universal emancipation. The
Friends were the first to form an associa-
tion for the liberation of the negroes. In 1788, Thomas
Clarkson carried oft' the prize at Cambridge University
for a Latin dissertation on the unlawfulness of the slave
trade ; a still better fruit of his study of the question
was the solemn devotion of his life to the work of
bringing the slave trade to an end. Two years later a
committee was formed, and William Wilberforce under-
took the Parliamentary conduct of the movement, which
issued in 1 808 in the abolition of the slave trade. After
this it became evident that the evils of slavery could
only be ended by the abolition of slavery itself. In
1821, Wilberforce asked Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton to
undertake the conduct of this new movement. When
37
38
®ljc Storn of our Most fnbinn ftlission
the latter proposed a measure of gradual abolition,
Canning carried against him a series of
The Canning
resolutions.
resolutions recommending the colonial legis-
latures to adopt ameliorative measures.
Called upon to give effect to these resolutions, the
Jamaica Assembly denied the right of Parliament to
interfere in the internal affairs of the island. While
pretending to amend the slave trade, they repeatedly
attempted to secure the passing of a clause rendering it
illegal to receive payments of any kind for imparting
The Jamaica induction t° slaves ; and when this pro-
Assembiy vision was as often vetoed by the Governor,
defiant. and a despatch was at length presented to
the Assembly pointing out the utter inadequacy of the
pretended ameliorations, the Assembly became openly
defiant.
The excitement created among the planters and their
sympathisers by the struggle against the advancing
forces of emancipation could not escape the notice of
the slaves. Reports circulated that their freedom was
decreed by the king, but the planters were conspiring
to withhold it. They decided accordingly to strike a
blow for themselves. When the Christmas holidays of
1831 — the date fixed upon — arrived, only a few whites
here and there had become suspicious of a plot. It
seems clear that at first nothing more was intended
than a wholesale strike against working as slaves without
pay. There was no purpose of bloodshed,
The insurrec-
tion of 1831.
and in reality only about a dozen whites
lost their lives in the course of the insurrec-
tion. But the slaves were resolved to destroy what was
to them the machinery of slavery. The signal was
given in the firing of the Estate of Kensington ; and on
that night, the 28tli December, Mr. Blyth counted
39
(Emancipation of tlje Zlatas
sixteen Estate works lighting up the sky with the fires
which laid them in ruins. Throughout half the island
there was a general rising of the slaves. At once the
whole island was placed, under martial law. The
militia furnished sufficient local defence against any
advance of the ill -armed and ill - organised bands of
slaves; and General Sir Willoughby Cotton, promptly
taking the field with regular troops, soon dispersed the
miserable insurgents. Some fled to the mountains ;
the greater part went back to their estates and sur-
rendered themselves ; some hundreds were put to death
by the executioner, and others flogged. The property
destroyed by the slaves in this rising was estimated at
£667,000; and the British Parliament granted a loan
of £200,000 to enable the planters to replenish their
estates. But on the estates where the Presbyterian
missionaries had made their influence felt, no injury was
wrought, and the church members attended faithfully
to their work.
It was long, however, before this latter fact was
realised. The alarmed and resentful planters roundly
„ .. charged the missionaries with having
Reaction ° °
against the fomented the outbreak. That they were
missionaries. n0£ arrested at the very outset was due
not less to the esteem in which they were held by
several of the magistrates, than to their own, as a rule,
judicious conduct. But the Rev. Mr. Watson was
forced to do military duty, and Mr. Knibb was only
saved from being summarily court- mar tialled by the
interposition of influential friends. All of them had to
suffer many things wrongfully. After the insurrection
was suppressed, the disbanded militia, aided and
countenanced by white people generally, vented their
animosity by demolishing Baptist and Wesleyan chapels
40
iljt Storn of our fittest fwbimt $fTissioir
in several of the parishes. Two attempts to burn
Hampden Church were happily frustrated.
A Colonial Church Union was also formed, for the
purpose of expelling all “sectarian” missionaries from
The Colonial ^he is^an(^- An attempt to bribe the
Church Presbyterian missionaries into joining it,
Union. by proposing to establish Scotch kirks in
every parish as a branch of the Island Church Establish -
VIEW OF EUCEA FROM THE WEST.
ment, signally failed. Forthwith the “ Unionists ” (as
they were called) began a series of persecutions and
outrages, directed against missionaries and all who
sympathised with them, which threw the free coloured
population into angry opposition, and was fast fomenting
a civil war. They closed the church at Port Maria; for
weeks Mr. Watson of Lucea could not venture out of
his house ; the missionary at Greenisland was dragged
©mancipation of the flatus
41
before tbe magistrates on false charges, and threatened
with assault. At this crisis Earl Mulgrave arrived as
Governor. He proclaimed the Union as an unlawful
institution, and publicly cashiered all officers and
magistrates who were members of it, thus effectually
dissolving it. In the most marked manner he counte-
nanced and encouraged the labours of the missionaries.
. . On the other hand, an attempt was made
aries vindi- among the friends of the slaves at home to
cated. inculpate the Presbyterian missionaries as
being generally too favourable to the planters ; but
the secretary of the Scottish Missionary Society, Dr.
William Brown, published a triumphant vindication of
the attitude they had preserved.
It was, of course, now perfectly clear that no hope
could be entertained of ameliorative measures from the
colonial Legislature. The passing of the Reform Bill
of 1832 gave Great Britain a new Parliament; and
in 1833 the ministry of Earl Grey carried the Bill
abolishing slavery. It provided that, from
Emancipation. lsfc Au§ust 1834> a11 children under six
should be free, while the rest of the slaves
should enter on a six - years’ apprenticeship, during
which they should work three-fourtlis of their time for
their masters, and at the end of which they should be
free. At the same time, a sum of twenty millions was
voted to compensate the slave-owners for the loss of
what had hitherto been legal property. On the
appointed date the planters prophesied a pandemonium,
which should foreshadow the coming ruin of the island.
The missionaries, on the other hand, laboured hard to
prepare the ignorant and excited multitudes for the
approaching change. In reality the day was celebrated
chiefly as a sacred jubilee ; throughout the island there
42
(l lie Ufora of our ®lest Inbinu Mission
was hardly a disturbance. But the system of apprentice-
si lip proved a failure. The difficulties created by a
transition stage became increasingly burdensome, and
the Jamaica Assembly was driven to terminate the
apprenticeship two years earlier than had been at first
Emancipation inten<fed. The jubilee which had celebrated
Day, 1st August the ending of slavery was eclipsed by the
1838- jubilee which inaugurated the universal
enjoyment of freedom. Where there were churches,
they were filled with grateful worshippers, who kneeled
before God as at the stroke of midnight they entered
into liberty. On the mountain-tops they welcomed
with shouts of praise the rising of the sun that shone on
a free people. Again in the forenoon they crowded
the churches at services of thanksgiving. Thereafter
many of them, with a fine courtesy, paid their respects
to their former masters and overseers. The total
number of slaves set free in Jamaica was 311,071 ; the
compensation paid to their former owners was
£5,853,975.
CHAPTER Y
PROM THE DATE OF EMANCIPATION TO THE FIRST
SYNOD IN 1849
The Act of Emancipation undoubtedly created a situa-
tion full of confusion, uncertainty, and peril. It fell to
Sir Charles Metcalfe to lay the foundation
Effects of J
emancipation, of the new order of things, and his statue
in the Square at Kingston commemorates
the ability and integrity with which he filled the office
of Governor. The dispensation of justice had to be
reorganised ; the rights of the Dissenting Churches
legalised ; the currency remodelled ; and retrenchment
effected in the administration of the now greatly
impoverished island. For a time it seemed as if a
national act of righteousness were to issue in the ruin
of the island and the misery of the people. Between
1832 and 1848 no fewer than 653 sugar and 456 coffee
plantations were abandoned, and their works broken
up. A large proportion of the compensation money
paid to the slave-owners had gone to those who held
mortgages on their properties. The planters, in their
resentment at emancipation, had prophesied the ruin of
the estates from want of labourers, and many of them,
in the words of the Royal Commission of 1884, “did
their best to fulfil their own prophecy.” The freed
slaves were driven off the properties on which they
43
44
®l)c Storjr of our ®Ec$t fitbimr HUssicw
had resided, and their dwellings pulled down • wages
were tampered with, and withheld on the slightest
pretexts ; leases of ground for cultivation were refused,
except on tyrannical terms. On the other hand, the
negroes generally expected that emancipation was itself
to bring them an amelioration of their condition which
could only he secured through patient industry and
well-doing ; and many of them were utterly regardless
of the debt due by the labourer to the interests of an
accepted employer. Where a better spirit prevailed on
both sides, the advantages of emancipation were at
once apparent.
It was a hard task which lay before our mission.
The idea which originated the mission, that of giving
The task the G°sPel t° the slaves, still continued,
before our although the slaves were now free, to
dominate its policy and shape its endeavours.
For the emancipated people were still enslaved in ignor-
ance and superstition ; they were habituated to deceit and
dishonesty, and given over to immorality, with hardly any
sprinkling of' family life among them. “ W e were a
wild people,” was the graphic testimony of a converted
negro woman at Goshen. “ Mr. Jameson -found we
wandering and stumbling amid crags and gullies in the
woods, blind, and with no man to care for our souls.”
Taking them in the mass, they were simply a pagan
people, whose contact with English civilisation had been
of a kind which taught them nothing but its vices and
its hypocrisies.
The social unsettlement aggravated the difficulties of
the situation. The missionaries sought to grapple with
these difficulties in different ways. Mr.
Free villages. . ^
Blyth founded the village of Goodwill, by
which he kept the people near their church and place of
45
(front 1834 to 1849
worship. But many of the best of the slaves, who had
saved a little money, preferred to seek provision grounds
of their own, which could be bought cheaply in the high
mountains. Mr. Waddell bought a run of
New settle- mountain land in the wild and picturesque
merits. 1
highlands some eighteen miles from Corn-
wall, already partly occupied by free people of colour,
and, dividing it amongst a number of his people, founded
the station of Mount Horeb.' A similar movement of
his people led him to found the still remoter station of
Lamb’s Kiver (now known as Mount Hermon), near
the German colony of Seaford.
While in the north the extension of the mission was
brought about by local migrations, in the south it was
effected by aggressive movements. The
Secession1 °f Dunfermline Presbytery sent out in 1839
Church the Rev. William Scott, who began work at
mission. Hillside, laying the foundation of the present
charge of Ebenezer. Mr. Aird, one of several catechists
sent out at this time, was stationed at Mile Gully, and
there gathered the original nucleus of the' congregation
of Mount Olivet. A new station was also opened at
Victoria Town, which was described at the time as “ the
key to the parish of Vere, perhaps the darkest, most
neglected, and wicked locality in Jamaica.” In the
east Mr. William Anderson gathered a. congregation at
Rosehill, where he was labouring as catechist and
teacher, and also began work at Pliillipsburg, now Cedar
Valley. In the west there were also new extensions.
The Presbytery of Stirling in 1840 sent out Mr. Hugh
Goldie as catechist to aid the Rev, W. Niven. Mr.
Goldie was stationed at Negril, and formed there in 1844
a little church of five converts.
In 1843 the Scottish Missionary Society sent out the
46
®Ijt ^toni of our Sliest §nimnt fission
Rev. Warrand Carlile, a minister of the Cliurcli of
Scotland. Although he was at the time
Brownsville. . °
iorty-six years of age, Ins offer of service,
prompted by a vision of the Lord directing him to
Jamaica — a field of which he had not been thinking —
was of such a kind that the directors of the Society
gladly accepted it ; and his honoured name closes the
list of missionaries sent out by that Society. On his
arrival in Jamaica he accepted an invitation to Cascade,
a beautiful location high among the mountain valleys
inland from Lucea, where Mr. Watson had already done
much preparatory work. Very soon after Mr. Carlile
settled there, a good congregation was formed, and
the station was called Brownsville, after Dr. William
Brown, son of Dr. John Brown of Haddington, and for
many years the Secretary of the Scottish Missionary
Society.
By a remarkable leading of Providence the mission
was carried to Grand Cayman, a low and reef-girt island
which lies 130 miles north-west of Jamaica,
GrandCayman.
and is inhabited by the tail and well-built
descendants of buccaneers of former days, with a certain
commingling of negro blood and colour. In January of
1845 the ship in which Mr. Waddell had sailed for
home was wrecked on that island, and he had perforce
to stay there over two Sabbaths, on both of which he
preached to the people. In the spring of the same year
the ship in which Mr. W. Niven was going home called
at the island on a Sabbath to take in turtle. On the
heart of each the spectacle of this isolated population of
1500 souls, without a single missionary or teacher of
any kind, and living in the practice of open and secret
wickedness, made a profound impression. Mr. Niven
obtained leave when at home to begin a mission there ;
cfrom 1834 to 1849
47
and when, on liis return to Jamaica, the question was
Beginning of Put in the Presbytery, “Who will go?”
the mission the Rev. W. Elmslie, who had been first
thera catechist and afterwards ordained missionary
at Greenisland, rose and offered for the lonely outpost.
The Rev. W. Niven accompanied him thither in 1846,
and introduced him to his charge ; hut on the return
voyage the schooner ( The Wave) foundered in an awful
hurricane. Mr. Niven and all on board
andMrsfmven. were drowned; and shortly afterwards his
young widow, prostrated by the sore be-
reavement, died in childbed.1
But it was not only in occupying new ground that
progress was manifested. Individual instances of trans-
Progress in formed character and fervent piety gladdened
other direc- the eyes of the labourers ; the gradual work-
ing of the new leaven was also apparent,
although too subtle and variable to he easily defined ;
at the several stations congregations were steadily
growing. There were also some notable beginnings of
future developments. Native catechists
began to be employed, the first of whom,
George M'Lachlan, who had formerly been
a slave, deserves to be held in remembrance for his
intelligent and earnest piety and active zeal. The
training of native youths to be teachers and catechists
was also inaugurated. The proprietor of
Bonham Spring mansion - house, near
Goshen, offered it rent-free to Mr. Jameson
for this purpose, and Mr. George Millar was sent out
in 1841 to begin the new seminary. Shortly afterwards,
however, he removed it to Montego Bay as a more
1 Full details of this whole paragraph relating to Grand Cayman
are given in the Record for February 1847.
Native
catechists.
Montego Bay
Academy.
48
®Ije Utorjr of our West ftrbimt Ulissioit
suitable centre, and there it proved a wellspring of
enlightening influence. To have been trained in the
Montego Bay Academy came to be regarded as almost
in itself a certificate of superior qualifications and
character.
But most notable of all was the earnest desire
amongst the converted children of Africa that their
kindred in the land of their birth should hear the glad
, . . tidings of salvation. And from the day the
The desire to 0 J _
send the gospel sun of freedom rose on Jamaica, the idea
to Africa. had been cherished by friends of Africa
that Jamaica would furnish agents for its evangelisation.
In 1839, Mr. Waddell organised in his congregation at
Cornwall a missionary society, in which 230 members
contributed in monthly gifts ,£66 the first year, and
more in some later years. In other congregations a
similar enthusiasm was evoked. For two years the
project was before the Presbytery. In 1841 they
passed resolutions in favour of it, but these resolutions
met with a chilling reception at home. Despite this
discouragement, the brethren in Jamaica, having mean-
while received inviting assurances directly from Old
Calabar, resolved to proceed in the way of organising a
new society to undertake this mission. Mr. Waddell
accepted the commission to go home to found this
„ . . «... society, with a view to thereafter becoming
Origin of the J ’ °
mission to Old its first missionary. For this purpose he
Caiahar, resigned his connection with the Scottish
Missionary Society. After he arrived in Scotland,
however, the Secession Church agreed to institute the
mission, and appointed him to lead the way.
But the progress manifested in Jamaica was shadowed
by darker experiences. Incessant difficulties tried the
faith and courage of the missionaries and hampered
4
VIEW OF MONTEGO BAY
Jfrom 1834 fo 1849
51
their labours ; the soil in which they had to work was
saturated with the evil influences of the
experiences. Pasti while financial distress and social priva-
tions created cares that could not he avoided.
In 1842 an outbreak of Myalism swept through many
parishes like a contagion. Myalism may be described
Myalism aS ^ie ^frican superstition of exorcism,
which seeks the expulsion of evil spirits and
the breaking of evil spells ; while Obeahism (although
the name is now often used generically as inclusive of
Myalism), its malignant counterpart, seeks the infliction
of evil through occult incantations, rites, and charms.
Large gatherings of the negroes assembled at one place
after another to drive out the Obeah with frenzied
dances and singing, amid an excitement that often
threw the principal performers into paroxysms ; while
the grossest delusions were inculcated as mystic truths,
and deeds of darkness enhanced the demoralising
influence of the orgies. These superstitious rites were
sometimes grotesquely combined with the singing of
Christian hymns and the use of Christian prayers.
These outbreaks almost defied for the time the efforts
of the missionaries who attempted to prevent or over-
come them. They were not, however, a transient
epidemic. They were rather the outcome of hereditary
superstition, to which the abolition of slavery gave
freedom of action, and which has beleaguered mission
work down to the present day. From time to time this
superstition has received a fresh quickening from the
location in Jamaica of settlements of “Africans” i.e.
captives rescued from slavers by British men-of-war,
and planted down in selected spots.1 These recent
1 I visited a settlement near Brownsville of “Africans ” from the
Congo, the adults of which had not more than one or two words
of English.
52
Or §tonr of our ®cs( fitbitm fission
comers from Africa were regarded as specially skilled
in Obealiism.
There were also many deaths among the missionaries.
In 1841 fever of an unusual type prevailed, to which four
of the mission staff succumbed, while others
Deaths.
who recovered were obliged to take furlough
home. A deep impression was made by the sudden
removal of the Rev. James Paterson. On 23rd January
1843 he left his home in Cocoa Walk to attend a meeting
Death of Presbytery. The Rev. Dr. Robson of
the Rev j. Wellington Street Church, Glasgow, who
Pateison. was then on a visit to the island to recruit
his health, and whose sister had been Mr. Paterson’s
first wife, accompanied him in the gig. Their conversa-
tion turned on the leadings of God’s providence and on
the hopes of His children. Dr. Robson quoted to him
the words of Rowland Hill’s favourite hymn —
“ And when I’m to die, Receive me, I’ll cry;
For Jesus has loved me, I cannot tell why.
But this I do find, we two are so joined,
He’ll not be in glory and leave me behind.”
At Mr. Paterson’s request he again repeated the hymn.
Immediately afterwards they came to a descent ; as
they went down the hill the horse broke into a gallop,
and Mr. Paterson lost control of it ; at the foot of the
hill, a watercourse crossing the road gave the gig a
severe jolt, which threw them both out of their seats ;
Dr. Robson fell again into the gig, but Mr. Paterson,
who had been holding the reins, fell on his head upon
the road, and lay there motionless ; the horse ran on for
about half a mile before it could be checked, and when
Dr. Robson descended from the gig and ran back to
where Mr. Paterson was lying, he found his friend
drum 1834 to 1849
53
dead. So quickly, as in a moment, was tlie first
missionary of the Secession Church caught up out of
his abundant labours to be Avith Christ.
The deaths of Mr. and Mrs. "William Niven in 1846,
already referred to, were folloAved by others. BetAveen
August 1848 and January 1849 no feAver
Old Calabar than six deaths occurred m the mission
staff, and the Mission Board took occasion
to issue an address calling to special prayer and renewed
effort in view of this great mortality. There were: also
several departures for the neiv field in Old Calabar.
Mr. and Mrs. Edgerley and Mr. Edivard Miller folloived
Mr. and Mrs. Waddell later in the same year ; the Bev.
William Jameson in the year following ; Mr. and Mrs.
Goldie, Mr. and Mrs. Newhall, Mr. Henry Hamilton,
and others, a year later ; and again, in the folloAving year
(1848), Mr. William Anderson. The depletions occa-
sioned by these deaths and departures Avere not made
up by the number of neAv missionaries avIio arrived.
Tavo congregations, however, were added, both hi
1848. The congregation at Montego Bay, originally
connected Avith the Church of Scotland, and
und1 Kfngston which a4 the Disruption adhered to the
Free Church, cast in its lot with the
Jamaica Church. At Kingston there was a congregation
which adhered to the Church of Scotland. Mr. T. F.
Callender, a probationer of the Secession Church, who
had come to the island to seek relief from pulmonary
complaint, and Avho was a most acceptable preacher,
was invited to become its pastor. As the stipend was
paid by a Government grant, his principles prevented
him from complying Avith the request ; but a friendly
arrangement Avas come to, by which Mr. Callender,
after being ordained as a missionary by the Jamaica
54 ®I,c Iborg of our West fubian Ifissioit
Presbytery, gave a twelve-months’ supply to the vacant
congregation, until a new minister arrived from Scotland.
The congregation was greatly benefited in every way by
Mr. Callender’s earnest labours, and the arrangement
terminated amid mutual good-will. Mr. Callender then
opened a new station in Kingston, which had at the
time a population of 40,000, not a fourth of whom were
connected with any place of worship. There were the
fairest prospects of success, but the disease from which
Mr. Callender suffered had made insidious progress, and
he only lived to dispense the first communion to his
infant congregation of 50 members.
In 1847 the union of the Secession and Relief
Churches constituted the United Presbyterian Church.
One of the first results was the taking over
tw^mi^sions6 the ^fissions of the Scottish Missionary
Society by the United Church. This step
was very welcome to all the missionaries in Jamaica.
From the beginning they had co-operated as brethren ;
all the ordained agents of the Society were ministers of
the Secession Church, with the exception of the Rev.
Warrand Carlile, who belonged to the Free Church,
and he too cordially accepted the new relationship.
Following upon this union, the Presbytery resolved to
extend the advantages of Presbyterianism by constitut-
ing itself into a Synod, with four Presbyteries. The
first Synod met at Falmouth on 9th January
The first Synod. . J ,
1849, and was opened with a sermon by
the Rev. Dr. King of Greyfriars Church, Glasgow, who
was then on a visit to the island. At that time there
were under the charge of the Synod 17 ordained
missionaries, 5 catechists having charge of congrega-
tions, 5 European catechists and teachers employed
under missionaries, 4 female teachers and more than
55
VIEW IN KINGSTON, SHOWING ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH.
Jrom 1834 to 1849
57
12 native teachers, upwards of 4000 communicants,
and 2000 children receiving education in day schools
connected with the mission.
It is interesting to note how the four Presbyteries
rise like after-monuments of the pioneer enterprise
which laid the foundations of the mission,
byteri^ PfeS Mr. Blyth began work in Hampden, and
round that station circles the Northern
Presbytery. Mr. Watson landed in faith at Lucea,
and from Lucea radiates the Western Presbytery. Mr.
Chamberlain moved eastwards to Port Maria, and inland
from Port Maria branched out the Eastern Presbytery,
which in 1891 was divided into two, the North-Eastern,
and the South-Eastern having its seat in Kingston.
Mr. Paterson planted the gospel at New Broughton,
and from that root the Southern Presbytery has grown
upwards like a palm.
CHAPTER VI
prom 1849 to 1866
'I' hr lines of our mission work had now been definitely
and deeply laid ; what was needed was to carry the work
steadfastly forward. And this was done, despite the
restrictive and retarding influences of prolonged vacancies
and frequent changes. Our mission had to pass through
times of trial, but in the midst of them it received a
signal baptism of blessing.
In 1850 an awful visitation of cholera fell like a
scourge upon the island. Beginning in the unclean
village of Port Royal, and devastating it, the
cholera disease spread through every parish, until it
had almost literally decimated the popula-
tion, one in thirteen throughout the whole island falling
a victim to the malady. The preventive and remedial
measures energetically employed by the missionaries
saved many lives. Such a period of solemn anxiety and
fear naturally awoke a widespread spiritual concern,
which, despite its transitory character in multitudes of
cases, produced a large number of converts. In this way
the scourge was turned into a blessing.
From our mission staff, during the period now under
review, the shadow of death was seldom absent. In one
instance the stroke which bereaved the mission was
made more vivid by its tragic surroundings. The Rev.
68
Jrcmt 1849 to 1866
59
David Wingate, of Stirling, was returning to tlie island,
Death of Mr witli lais newly-married wife, in the splendid
and Mrs. new steamer Amazon , which was making
Wmgate. her maiden voyage, with fifty passengers
and a numerous crew. Two days after leaving
Southampton, on 4th January 1852, the steamer
was found to be on fire ; all efforts to subdue the fire
failed, and a scene of horror ensued ; the flames swept
the ship from stem to stern, and many perished in them.
Of the boats which were attempted to be launched, only
the lifeboat, with twenty-one persons, got safely away ;
in one which was swamped in the launching, and whose
occupants were drowned, were the missionary and his
bride.
Eesignations also thinned the ranks of the missionaries.
The Rev. George Blyth, the pioneer of the mission,
after twenty-seven years’ labour in the island,
resigned his charge, and returned in 1851 to
Scotland, where he died in 1866. In 1854 the Rev.
John Cowan, after twenty-two years’ faithful labour at
Carronhall, became incapacitated for further service,
and retired to Scotland. And in 1857 that distin-
guished scholar, the Rev. Alexander Robb, after two
years’ labour at Goshen, left Jamaica for work in
Old Calabar.
The vacant places, however, were filled by new
arrivals, and four of the famous “ Seven ” of
toe staffnS t0 1^57 1 were located in Jamaica and Grand
Cayman. The working of several of the
stations was also facilitated by the ordination of cate-
1 Considerable enthusiasm was awakened at home in 1857 by
the appointment of seven new missionaries, who appeared together
on public platforms at missionary meetings in Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
GO
tty J$targ of out $ubuw
usstoit
native
ministry,
cliists who liad gained for themselves a good degree.1
Three of these were natives.
The propriety of training a native ministry had long
been recognised, but not till 1851 was the first definite
Trainin°- of a provision made for it, in the appointment of
the Rev. Alexander Renton, formerly of
Hull, a man of exceptional culture and
beautiful character, as theological tutor at Montego Bay
Academy, where the general work of the Academy and
of the mission also engaged a share of his energies.
But it was afterwards judged that the special training
of the theological students might be carried on more
economically and with equal advantage in connection
with one of the stations, and in 1858 Mr. Renton
removed with the students to Mount Olivet. In the
previous year two native students and one American
were licensed on completing their curriculum, the first-
fruits of a regularly-trained native ministry ; one of
them was the Rev. James Robertson, who died last
August at Mount Carmel.
About that time, also, two new stations were opened
in the Western Presbytery; and the congregation of
Falmouth, which had been in the same
position as was formerly the Montego Bay
congregation, joined itself to the mission under the
Northern Presbytery.
At this juncture there occurred a great religious
awakening throughout the island. It began
among the Moravian churches in Manchester,
and extended rapidly among all denomina-
tions. The leading features of the revival were strong
1 It may be noted here that some of our ablest and most
successful missionaries, like William Anderson, Hugh Goldie, and
James Ballantine, went out at first as catechists.
Extensions.
The revival
of 1860.
FALMOUTH MARKET.
Jrom 1849 to 1866
63
convictions of sin accompanied with open confession, and
followed by acts of repentance, such as restitution for
past wrongs and reconciliation of existing quarrels.
People were struck down, and remained for hours, or
even days, in deepest distress on account of sin. The
joy which came through trusting in the Saviour bore
instant fruit in prayer and effort for the conversion of
others. In many of the less evangelised parts of
Jamaica the revival movement went to seed, leaving
few permanent fruits, sometimes even doing harm.
But wherever it was directed with judgment and the
people were intelligently taught, it left behind results
of great importance and abiding character. Thus the
Rev. Warrand Carlile testified, a year after the revival,
that the membership of his congregation had increased
from 300 to 542, and the income from £140 to £250 ;
while two years later he declared that the revival com-
menced a new era in the history of his congregation.
Other missionaries bore similar testimonies ; and the
church returns for the year showed a total increase of
1500 communicants.
But these glad experiences did not continue long.
Sometimes a tree which in one year has yielded an
exceptional wealth of fruit stands almost
^jt™e of barren for a few seasons thereafter ; so did
it seem to be as regards the progress of the
mission when once the fruits of the revival had been
amalgamated into the ordinary life of the Church.
Perhaps a truer view would be that God had graciously
quickened and confirmed His people for passing through
a period of disheartening adversity and trouble. Por
now there followed a period of great distress among the
peasantry. A prolonged drought, the raising of prices
through the American war, and increased import duties,
64
tiThc Utorg of out <®tcst fnbimt HUssion
entailed serious hardships. Dr. Underhill, the Secretary
of the Baptist Missionary Society, called the attention
of the Home Government -to the sufferings of the people,
and the Government, by publishing the letter
in Jamaica, made the matter a public ques-
tion there. For some time previously there
had been considerable political controversy, the Im-
perial Government being desirous of fostering the
Troubles
brewing.
NATIVE WOMEN WASHING CLOTHES.
principle of representative constitutional government
in the Assembly, while the majority of the Assembly
desired to maintain the sole responsibility of the
Governor. In more than one direction relations were
strained. The labouring population were continually
irritated by petty acts of oppression and injustice on the
part of the planters, especially in the payment of wages.
Petitions to the Governor only elicited the recom-
Jrom 1849 to 1866
65
mendation to give their labour steadily and continually
wherever it was wanted. In these circumstances the
descendants of Africans throughout the island were called
upon, by a resolution adopted at a public meeting in
Kingston, to form themselves into societies to procm’e
the redress of their grievances. In this agitation George
William Gordon took a prominent part.
Gordon W ' Once a slave, and freed by his father, to
whom he afterwards -showed ' the most filial
kindness, Mr. Gordon became one of the largest landed
proprietors in the island, and a member of the Assembly
and several local Boards. His talents, Christian character,
and urbanity commanded wide respect. There can be
no doubt that Gordon’s words and actions did much to
foment the animosity of the negroes against the whites ;
there can be as little doubt that in the agitation he
himself contemplated only constitutional methods. But
the ends proposed to the African population, and the
The Morant aPPeals made to them, fomented in certain
Bay insurrec- quarters a determination to resort to illegal
tion- violence. In St. Thomas-in-the-East, the
parish in the island least under missionary influence, on
11th October 1865, a roughly-armed and imperfectly-
organised mob entered the Square in Morant Bay to
begin the war on the propertied classes. The forces of
order on the spot were overpowered ; the court-house
attacked and fired ; the Custos and others murdered : in
all, eighteen were killed and thirty-one wounded by the
insurgents. The conspiracy was purely local, but fears
of its having wider ramifications exaggerated the danger,
and volunteer companies were improvised in every parish.
As a matter of fact, the rebellion was checked and
hemmed in within three days, and crushed within a
week. But the conduct of the authorities and of the
S
66
ff'bc Sdorn of our wife si fivbimt Ulission
military was repreliensibly severe. Four hundred and
fifty rebels were killed in quelling the rebellion ; after
TT. .. .. order was restored, 350 more were put to
action of the death. A thousand native dwellings were
Government. Wantonly destroyed by burning. The punish-
ments inflicted were excessive and cruel ; and a flagrant
violation of law and order took place in the treatment of
Mr. Gordon. He had been ill at his villa during these
days, hut, learning that a warrant had been issued against
him, he rode in with a friend to the Government offices
in Kingston. There he was at once arrested, and illegally
conveyed away by sea into the proclaimed district, that
he might he subjected to trial, not by ordinary law, hut
by court-martial. After being subjected to incredibly
brutal indignities, he was summarily hanged. The
indignation evoked by these proceedings obliged an
investigation by a Royal Commission from England,
and as the result, the Governor, Mr. Eyre, was recalled.
The insurrection was significant, and not less its
results. The interests of the coloured population rose
into prominence as a principal aim in the
feTeiiion°f ^ future government of the island. The con-
tempt for negro life and the wanton use of
force, which were a legacy of slavery, received a stern
check in the Report of the Royal Commission. The
Legislative Assembly, which for more than two hundred
years had represented the colonists of Jamaica, wisely
enacted its own abolition.1 The survivals of slave-
1 The panic awakened hy the Morant Bay rising and the
resentment against the native Baptists were so great, that the
Governor actually introduced a measure into the Assembly,
which would have had the effect of strangling the mission work
of all Churches except the Episcopal, the Church of Scotland,
and the Roman Catholic. It was too extravagant to be proceeded
with.
Jfrorn 1849 to 1866
67
holding days in the spirit and methods of administra-
tion were now doomed. A new era began, in which the
good of the people as a whole and without distinction of
race became the end of the Government.
What was the position of the mission at this period
of time? In brief, it numbered 24 congregations,
with 4738 members and 470 candidates; the contribu-
tions for all purposes amounting to £2558, being an
average of 10s. 8d. per head.
CHAPTER YII
from 1866 to 1893
In October 1866 tlie new Governor, Sir John Peter
Grant, inaugurated the new form of government, under
which the Legislative Council consisted
The Govern- exciusively of the nominees of the Crown.
Improvements were introduced in various
directions, which tended to equalise privileges and to
benefit all classes. In 1869 the Episcopal Church was
disestablished, a proceeding which resulted in a re-
organisation and quickening of the Church, to its own
increase and prosperity, and to the marked advantage of
religion in the island. The cause of education also
received great attention. The same policy of gradually
extending measures of public benefit and local improve-
ment was carried forward by the subsequent Governors,
Sir Anthony Musgrave, and Sir Henry W. Norman,
who in 1884 introduced into the Council representative
members chosen by the people. The present Governor,
Sir H. A. Blake, promoted in 1890 an Exhibition,
which did much to attract attention to the products
and capabilities of Jamaica, and to enlighten the native
population as to the cultivation of the resources within
their reach.
It is, of course, impossible to trace minutely the
history of our mission throughout the island during
68
Jrom 1866 to 1893
69
this long period. Every reader can easily understand
liow the work presents year after year the
Our mission. . ; , . ,. ,
same general features of continuous and
earnest labour, darkened perhaps by local hindrances
and trials, or brightened by special evidences of the
work of the Spirit, but on the whole always tending
towards a better future. It must suffice here to outline
the more prominent occurrences and developments.
The depression which prevailed throughout the island
at the beginning of this period was so great, that the
missionaries recorded their thankfulness at
nesstatl°nari' seeing the Church even holding its ground,
while its stability was recognised at home
as gratifying and hopeful. But at home there was also
dissatisfaction that the bright hopes awakened by the
revival of 1860 had not found a more satisfactory
fulfilment, in a larger measure of self-support and inde-
pendence on the part of the Jamaican Church. It
seemed to be still absorbing a larger proportion of the
missionary income of the Church at home than might
have been expected. As yet not a single congregation
had become self-supporting.
Accordingly, the Rev. Dr. Hamilton MacGill, the
Foreign Mission Secretary, and Mr. J. H. Young,
Glasgow, an able, liberal, and generous-
fen^ouf011 hearted member of the Board, went out as
deputies to visit the mission in the winter
of 1870-71. While inquiring minutely into all the
affairs of the mission, they sought to make their visit
one of encouragement and help, and brought home a
report which showed that much of the dissatisfaction
which had been expressed was occasioned by an
imperfect understanding of the conditions of life among
the people, and of the progress which had actually been
70 Uc Sforji of our <®cst |ub'uuv |$li&sion
achieved. At the same time they sought to develop
in the Jamaican congregations a spirit of reliance on
their own resources, and in general to stimulate action
towards the goal of self-support. The visit of the
deputies was followed by a very marked improvement
in the contributions of the people, to which, however,
the great improvement in the material condition of the
island, beginning in 1870, no doubt largely co-operated.
VIEW OF NATIVE DWELLINGS
Some ninety miles from Jamaica, and visible from
its northern shore on a specially clear day, lies the
island of Cuba, having eight times the area
the Cubans J 9»ni8/iC8»j blit 16SS tllcin tiir66 times its
population. The revolution of 1868 in
Spain had been followed by several political risings in
Cuba, and at the time Dr. MacGill and Mr. J. H. Young
visited Jamaica there were a large number of Cuban
refugees in Kingston. About the same time the Rev.
«#rom 1866 to 1893
71
Ramon Montsalvatge, a well-accredited Spanish ex-priest,
arrived from South America, and our church in Kingston
was freely granted him for work amongst the Cubans.
For a long time the idea of carrying the gospel to Cuba
and other islands of the West Indies had been present
to the minds of some of our missionaries, and now
there seemed a hope of a beginning in such work at
their own doors. Encouraged by Mr. J. H. Young, the
Jamaica Church resolved to undertake the support of
this work among the Cubans, and entered with
enthusiasm and liberality upon the undertaking. At
first there was good success. But after three or four
years this foreign element in the population of Kingston
dwindled away, and the mission came to a natural end.
More recently the idea of a mission to Cuba has been
revived in the Jamaica Church, and earnestly advocated,
but has not yet taken practical shape.
Prior to the departure of the deputies for Jamaica,
the resolution had been taken to close the Montego Bay
Closing of Academy, and to this resolution the deputies
Montego Bay gave effect. During the twenty-five years
Academy. exjst;ence the Academy had rendered
valuable service. Five hundred and sixty-three public
scholars had reaped its benefits through the payment of
fees; while 108 missionary students had been enrolled,
of whom rather more than a half afterwards entered the
service of the mission, chiefly as teachers, but four as
pastors. In 1855, the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly, in
a despatch to the Colonial Secretary, said : “ By far
the most creditable institution in the island is the
Presbyterian Academy, principally intended for train-
ing young men to the ministry or the scholastic
profession.” It still held a foremost place, and was
accomplishing excellent work ; there were 24 mis-
72
0% it tag of our ®est fnbitm $jpssimt
sionary students and 56 public scholars in attendance.
But the expense to the Home Church, amounting to
nearly ,£500 a year, appeared to call for some more
economical scheme. Very much at the instigation of
the deputies, the Governor founded a Queen’s College in
Spanish Town, with the view of imparting the higher
education preparatory to a theological training ; but
this scheme proved ultimately a failure. Mr. G. B.
Alexander, who had been in charge of the Academy,
was inducted as missionary at Ebenezer in
at Ebenezer. 18/1> and lfc was arranged, as a temporary
measure, that he should there have eight
students under tutorial training, with a view to their
becoming teachers, or entering on a theological course
when a theological professor should be appointed. In
several respects the change to Ebenezer was found
beneficial to the students, and the arrangement was
prolonged until Mr. Alexander returned home on
furlough in 1876, when this work came to an end.
The subsequent history of the mission has confirmed
the opinion that the closing of the Montego Bay
Academy by the Foreign Mission Board was a mistake.
The saving effected was limited and only temporary ;
while the supply of well-trained and reliable teachers,
as well as of native candidates for the ministry, received
an unfortunate check.
After the death of the Rev. Alexander Renton in
1863, the Rev. Adam Thomson, of Montego Bay, was
appointed theological tutor, and carried on
nwiningCal the wor^ the Academy was closed,
when the two students under his care com-
pleted their curriculum, and there were no new entrants.
At length, in 1876, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Robb, who
had returned to Scotland from Old Calabar’, was sent
Jrom 1866 to 1893
73
out as theological professor, the hall being located in
premises in Kingston, purchased and adapted for the
purpose ; and the Rev. John Simpson, who had now
retired from the charge of Port Maria, being associated
with Professor Robb in the work. The supply of
students, however, did not prove equal to the hopes
which prompted these arrangements, nor to the cost
involved in them; and at length, in 1888, at a point
when the hall became literally empty, Dr. Robb
resigned his office, and went to join his family in
Australia. Thereafter the training of students for the
ministry has been entrusted to the Revs. G. B. Alexander,
M.A., of Ebenezer, and R. Johnston, B.D., of New
Broughton, the arrangement being that the students
spend two years under each, Mr. Alexander conducting
the preparatory course, and Mr. Johnston the more
purely theological and practical training. There are at
present four students.
It has already been stated that the years following
the visit of Dr. MacGill and Mr. J. IT. Young were
years of material improvement in the island,
and of progress in church life. Shortly
afterwards (in 1875-76), the Rev. Mr. Tayloe, from
England, visited the island, and conducted evangelistic
services in many districts, with a consecrated fervour
and ceaseless energy which brought him to an early
grave. Not a few of our stations received marked
quickening through his labours, and his name is still a
hallowed memory to very many whom he led to Christ.
The brightening symptoms encouraged the hope of
some more definite steps towards a larger
on880Cl<me measure of independence; but just when
this matter was being pressed on the atten-
tion of the Jamaica Synod, a terrific cyclone swept the
Mr. Tayloe.
74
cTIk $tonr of our <®ttst In tit an ptssion
island, levelling buildings, uprooting trees, and destroying
five-sevenths of the whole produce in the field. Great
sympathy was awakened for the sufferers by this
disaster, especially for our congregations whose properties
were wrecked or injured, and who were at the same time
themselves too severely impoverished to make good their
loss. In these circumstances the Mission Board resolved
to send out another deputation, to examine the condition
of every station as well as the position and
1881 prospects ot the mission m general, and to
advise the Jamaica Church and the Board
as to the steps which appeared desirable. The Revs. Dr.
James Brown of Paisley, and R. M. MTnnes of Ayr,
undertook this onerous task, and discharged it with
ability and judgment. Appropriate aid was given
toward the restoration of mission properties, and
various measures were instituted, with the view of
facilitating in the Jamaica Church the development of
self-government and self-support. In order that the
arrangements regarding properties and the other measures
agreed upon might be wrought out satisfactorily, the
The Rev w ^ev- William Gillies, who had been formerly
Gillies appoint- missionary at Goshen and Falmouth, and
ed Secretary. wj10 was now Secretary to the Religious
Tract and Book Society of Scotland, was appointed to
the special office of Secretary to the mission, and pro-
ceeded to Jamaica in 1882. After five years’ service in
this capacity, when the special ends in view no longer
required the continuance of the office, Mr. Gillies
resigned his official connection with the mission, having
been already appointed Co-Principal of the Mico College
in Kingston.
Three important advances may be recognised as
connected with the visit of the deputies. One was,
,dfrom 1866 to 1893
75
that the Jamaica Church undertook the whole responsi-
„ bilitv for the support of its native catechists.
A step towards J _ 1 1
self-support— The catechists occupy the out-stations, in
native cate- wliic]1 services are held on the Sabbath,
the church members attending them being
in some cases formed into a distinct congregation
under the pastorate of the ordained missionary at the
principal station, and in other cases being only an
outlying part of the one congregation. It is very
largely through the labours of the catechists that the
directly aggressive work of the mission is methodically
sustained. How well this has been done is indicated
by what is said subsequently regarding the extension of
the mission.
A second advance is to be noted in the Jamaica
Church undertaking the whole charge of the schools
connected with the mission. In the earlier
days of the mission, adults as well as
children had to be taught the elements of
education ; and in the Sabbath schools in country
districts the classes of adults are still a conspicuous
feature. Before any systematic effort was made by the
Government to promote education, our Church rendered
conspicuous service to the cause of education in the
island through the teachers whom it trained in Montego
Bay Academy. But, shortly after the outbreak of 1865,
the Government organised a system of aid by a gradu-
ated scale of payments according to results in schools
that are recognised as meeting the wants of a district.
At first the educational agency in the island was very
limited and very poor, but it has gradually risen to a
comparatively satisfactory condition. The introduction
of Government grants naturally rendered the schools
receiving them unsuitable objects for missionary ex-
Self-support
as regards
schools.
76
SFbc Storg of our ®lcst fnbitm pission
Foreign
missions.
penditure, and the Jamaica Church readily undertook
entire responsibility for them. When this arrangement
was made, there were 62 week-day schools, with 4800
scholars; now there are 92 schools, with 9781 scholars.
A third advance may be noticed in an increased
interest in foreign missions. The remarkable mani-
festation of missionary enthusiasm which
characterised the early days of the mission,
was largely helped by the sentiments of
home and kindred to which the proposal of the Old
Calabar Mission so powerfully appealed. But, after the
first satisfying of these sentiments, the requirements of
the mission in Jamaica itself, together with its constantly
recurring difficulties and trials, and the poverty of the
people, laid restraints upon foreign missionary effort.
Now, however, there was a quickening of missionary
interest. Towards this end the teaching of Dr. Robb
manifestly co-operated. Two of his students offered
themselves to our Foreign Mission Board, and were
accepted for service in Old Calabar. The one of these,
the Rev. H. Gillies Clark, on his first furlough, returned
to Jamaica and joined the Wesleyan Church ;
but the other, the Rev. E. W. Jarrett,
The late Rev.
E. W. Jarrett.
proved a most capable, steadfast, and devoted
missionary, until his lamented death at Ikotana in 1890.
In 1884 the Jamaica Synod resolved to support mis-
sionary agents in Old Calabar and Rajputana.1 Mr.
Jarrett was their representative in the former field, but
since his death the resolution has been implemented by
the payment of an equivalent contribution towards the
1 It may be noted that when the Church at home resolved,
after the Indian Mutiny, to institute the mission to Rajputana,
among the earliest subscriptions were sums from Jamaica amount-
ing to upwards of £50.
Jrom 1866 fo 1893
77
carrying on of the work at Ikotana. In Raj pu tana
the representative of the Jamaica Church
toderswf Lucy H. Anderson, who was born in
Jamaica, and was a member of the church
in Kingston, and who went in 1881 to Rajputana, where
she conducts so ably the Christian Girls’ Boarding
School at Kusseerabad. The missionary contributions
show a somewhat fluctuating, but on the whole
advancing, liberality. The annual missionary meetings
of the congregations are the great events of the congre-
gational year, the churches being usually decorated for
the occasion, and filled by crowded gatherings. In some
congregations remarkable liberality is manifested : the
out-station congregation of Lauriston, numbering 93
members, has for two years in succession furnished a
splendid example of missionary interest, in the fact that
every member on the roll has contributed for missions.
It will thus be seen that our contributions towards the
Jamaica Mission are now confined entirely to the support
Limitations of the ordained missionary agents, the train-
aid from Home ing of theological students, and such grants
Church. ag are founc[ necessary to the erection of
churches, chapels, and manses, or the opening of new
stations.
A brief review of the extension of the mission during
this period may appropriately bring this chapter to its
conclusion. The last quarter of a century
the mission exhibits ail addition oi no iewer than 25
congregations. Four of these, indeed, were
congregations which had been formed through the
labours of the American Missionary Society. In 1866
that Society was induced, by the growing requirements
of its work among the freedmen in the Southern States,
to terminate all further expenditure on its comparatively
78 Sdorjr of our Sliest fnbimt lltissitm
small mission in Jamaica. The result was that the
mission, thrown entirely on its own inadequate resources,
soon drifted towards extinction, and between 1875 and
1882 the congregations of Eliot, Chesterfield, Brandon-
liill, and Brainerd one after another joined the Presby-
terian Church. The congregation of St. John’s arose
out of the mission work carried on by the students
under Dr. Robb in the poor and degraded Hannah
Town district of Kingston. But besides these, 20 other
congregations have been formed by the breaking of new
ELIOT CHURCH, OPENED IN 1893.
ground, and by the growth of the membership at out-
stations requiring them to be organised into separate
congregations, although they might not obtain separate
pastors. The aggressive character of the mission is
attested by such a fact, while the enterprise and willing-
ness of the people are indicated by the building, within
the same period, of at least 19 new churches.
In conclusion, it may be noted that in 1889 the
Jamaica Synod requested the Board to “send out an
Jrom 1866 to 1893
79
evangelistic deputy to visit the congregations in the
island Avith the view of stirring up their spiritual life.”
The Board, in compliance Avith this request, sent out
the writer of this story, Avho visited all the con-
gregations in the island. During part of the time
he was accompanied by the Rev. Dr. William Boyd,
GlasgoAv, who Avent out at his own charges. In the
following year the Board cordially accepted an offer
from Mr. John Wallace, Glasgow, to spend a year,
prior to entering on the practice of law in Glasgow, in
evangelistic work in Jamaica, a generous friend of the
mission undertaking the whole charges. So far as it
could he arranged, Mr. Wallace spent a Aveek at each
station in the mission, and in many places his labours
Avere attended with blessing. At its meeting in 1892
the Jamaica Synod expressed “ its thankfulness to God
for the many evidences of conversion and large spiritual
quickening received in connection Avith his labours.”
CHAPTER VIII
THE JAMAICA OB' TO-DAY : ITS NATURAL ASPECTS AND
PRODUCTS
It still remains for us to take a brief survey of Jamaica
as it presents itself to our view at the present moment ;
and also to estimate our present relation to our Jamaican
Church in consideration of the position it has reached
and of the task before it. The former of these aims I
imagine I shall best accomplish, by making this chapter
and the following very largely an account of impressions
received during a visit to Jamaica in the winter of
1889-90, at the same time bringing the information on
some points down to the present date.
What are the natural features of the island 1 1 A
line drawn along the centre of the island gives on an
average its highest elevation, which is like
an irregular citadel, supported by numerous
buttresses and flanked by outlying ramparts. The Blue
Mountains, towards the eastern end, are the highest, a
majestic group, whose towering peaks gain an altitude of
from 5000 to upwards of 7000 feet. At the western
end of the island the most prominent summit is the
densely forested Dolphin’s Head, some 1800 feet in
height. And almost in the very centre of the island,
the free eminence of Bull’s Head, nearly 3000 feet
1 For geographical information, see p. 10.
Mountains.
famines: its Natural Aspects anb |)robucfs 81
high, and just above our Mount Carmel station, com-
mands a splendid view, including within its extremes
nearly two-thirds of the island. A land of clustered
mountains and hills, Jamaica is also a land of ravines
and watercourses. When Columbus was asked what
like Jamaica was, he crushed up a sheet of paper, and,
putting the crumpled sheet on the table, said it was
like that.
Of extensive river basins it has only two, or at the
most three, and these all on the southern side. Its
only navigable stream is known as the Black
Rivers. .
River, which small boats ascend for some
thirty miles; the basin of this river is the parish of
St. Elizabeth. The parish of St. Catherine, again, may
be described as the river basin of the beautiful Rio
Cobre ; and the adjoining parish of Clarendon bears a
similar relation to the Rio Minho, save that the Rio
Minho totally disappears from its stony bed, except in
the upper reaches, during the greater part of the year.
Elsewhere the rivers are either short, like those which
debouch about Savannah-la-Mar, or confined within narrow
gorges, like the impetuous and romantic Wag Water.
The rivers of Jamaica have curious ways. Many a
stream, starting hopefully from its mountain birthplace,
no sooner touches a lower level than it loses itself in
the porous limestone, which is the prevalent formation.
Sometimes the disappearance is permanent ; 1 sometimes
it struggles soon into the light again. The Black River,
for example, rises twice into the light under different
1 In this connection reference may be made to the ugly-looking
sinks, found here and there among the hills. They are deep
hollows, like an inverted cone, with the bottom treacherous and
absorbent like quicksand, down which the rain-floods instantly
disappear — the antithesis to the volcano.
6
82 ®djc idorji of our Sbcst |nbhm $fisston
names, before gaining, on its third appearance, its
permanent course. And many a river in the dry season
seems unable to reach the sea. Creeping along its last
stage in a ditch-like course, it finds a bar of dry sand
laid right across its mouth, and behind this dam the
torpid river lies content to soak and ooze away its
superfluous water. Others, again, hide their beginning.
For example, every traveller through St. Ann’s turns
FALLS OF ROARING RIVER.
aside to look on the picturesque falls of the Eoaring
Eiver, and this river issues from its hidden source full-
volumed into light only a few hundred feet above the
falls.
As regards weather and climate, let me say that the
period of my visit, from December to April,
is always the most charming period of the
year. I was never a near spectator of the grandeurs
Jamaica : its Hatnral Aspects nub |lrobn:ts 83
of a tropical thunderstorm, although I had some little
experience of the wholesale deluges mildly called
“ showers.” The heat, though often great, was never
severely trying ; but I was told that if I should prolong
my stay through the all-wetting rains and scorching
days of the sultrier months, I would qualify my praises
of the climate. As a matter of fact, the thermometer at
Kingston ranges from a minimum of 59° in January to
a maximum of 94° in July ; the mean minimum for the
year is 70°, the mean maximum 83°; and the mean for
the year is at Kingston 81°, and at an altitude of 4000
feet 68°. To me, wandering through the island, it
seemed as if, having lost the winter, the three remaining
seasons had agreed to keep company together throughout
the year, only stilling their gaiety a little during the
months through which winter should have led the way.
Hence, amid all the varied colouring of the landscape,
you miss that lovely tender green which only winter
yields to the first kiss of spring.
There is, of course, a certain cycle in the year. I
arrived in time for the gleanings of the luscious Man-
chester orange ; during all my stay, the
year. sugar-canes, ripening in one field after
another, were being busily cut and crushed,
but soon the busy hands would slacken ; and when I
left, the blossom was sparkling like a silver star in the
coffee-planting, and millions of ripening mangoes were
hanging by long threads from the bending boughs of
the fruitful trees. Still, all through these months,
besides the perpetual yield of yarn and plantain, there
was a continual dropping of other products not strictly
in season, such as the useful bread-fruit and the delicious
nase-berry. And throughout the year there is to be had
that gift of heaven most grateful to the traveller, the
84 (The S'torjr of our <®cst fnbimi $$lissTcm
cool nutritious water of the young cocoa-nut, gathered
and safely kept in its green chalice hung high up
under the sheltering palm-leaves, earth’s sweetest elixir
for the refreshing of wearied nature. It is the con-
stancy, rather than the change, of the year which strikes
the stranger. The length of the day does not vary
more than two hours throughout the year ; the tides do
not rise more than two feet; the day seems only to
open and close on a “perpetual afternoon”; and to the
dwellers in such a land the years must seem to glide
away without any overt signal of their passage.
Very striking is the silence of nature. The birds
most visible are the ugly vulturide “ John Crows,”
carefully protected because of the invaluable
public service they render as instinctive and
voluntary scavengers. The tiny humming-birds, too,
are often visible, hovering over flowers, but they are
silent. Other birds have nearly disappeared. The
mongoose, introduced in an evil moment to extirpate
the destructive rat of the cane-fields, — whatever service
it has rendered in that way, and in the extermination
of snakes (which, however, in Jamaica were never
poisonous), — has rendered a more than counterbalancing
disservice by its wholesale destruction of birds, as well
as of poultry, eggs, and other produce. The mongoose,
indeed, has become a universal pest ; and it is further
credited with contributing to the prevalence of another
pest. By preying, not only upon birds, but also upon
lizards and other insect - devouring animals, it has
removed every check to the multiplication of grass
ticks. These are tiny red creatures, which, bred under
a hanging spray or blade of grass, hang there like a
cluster of pin-points, to scatter like dust over the first
animal or wayfarer that brushes against them ; and
85
famaira : its Natural Aspects nivit protracts
thereafter grow into the small circular bete rouge.
Should they fasten on an animal, they batten on its
blood into “silver ticks,” half-buried in its skin, and
causing it endless torment. You may look wistfully at
the alluring charms of the grassy lawn or romantic
woodland, but the sure knowledge of the invisible
tormentors lurking there will effectually forbid your
straying from the beaten path. “ Every paradise has
its venomous beast.” The mosquitoes come unbidden,
sting, and are gone ; but the grass ticks may so far be
shunned, their bite is worse, and they stay till they
are hunted down and killed. They are, as much as
the mosquitoes, acknowledged in polite society ! Only
when the pungent odour of the pimento crop fills the
atmosphere do the field workers seem to have exemption
from this pest.
But if the day is songless and silent, the access of
night is vocal. It comes suddenly, with hardly any
perceptible twilight. And the moment the
rays of the sun are lifted off the earth, all
nature, as if escaping from oppression, breaks into
sound; whirr and whistle, and chirp and buzz and
croak, blending together to fill the atmosphere with a
vibration like that of a spinning-mill. At the same
time numberless “ blinkers ” begin to flash about the
trees like drops of lightning, and large fireflies sail
hither and thither with statelier splendour of various-
tinted light, and dim forms of bats flap wildly through
the darkness. The moon shines with a more silvery
radiance than at home ; the beautiful sheen of dew-
covered palms sparkling in the moonlight of the early
morn before the dawn, once seen, is never to be
forgotten. And a new range of stars engages the eye.
The beautiful Canopus, second in brightness only to
86
®Ije Hflarg of our ®rgt ftimt $pssimt
Sirius, has a gentler light; and the Southern Cross,
belittled by many travellers, is yet, when seen upright
against a dark sky, and despite the irregularity of one
of its arms, a striking constellation.
Having travelled through twelve out of the fourteen
parishes, and through some of them more than once, I
variety of could not fail to he impressed by the variety
climate and of climate and of scenery. The north-
scenery. eastern slopes of the island, backed by the
■Blue Mountains and their dependencies, face the rain-
bringing winds, and so have wet seasons throughout the
year, the heaviest rainfall, and a humid climate. Along
the southern shore, on the other hand, the climate is
dry, and the hills of Santa Cruz furnish a matchless
residence for those tainted with consumption. In river-
less Manchester, when the tanks which store the rain-
water gathered from the barbecues are exhausted, you
may find the people wandering for miles in search of a
pitclierful ; and at the same time, in St. Mary’s, the
rain-floods may he scouring the hillsides and blocking
the roads. Not less varied is the scenery. Hanover is
a miniature Switzerland without its lakes ; St. James’s
has many resemblances to the straths of Perthshire ; St.
Ann’s, with its undulating hills and park-like “ pens,”
fragrant with the universal pimento, is emphatically the
most English in its aspect ; St. Catherine’s may boast
the most famous and frequented bit of Jamaica scenery,
the beautiful gorge of the Bog Walk, guarded at the
top by the gigantic precipice known as Gibraltar Bock,
but owing much of its fame to the rare charm of the
broad stream which brightens the wooded pass with
the life and music of its flowing waters. Every parish,
indeed, has its views of sylvan loveliness or imposing
splendour. Passing along the southern shore, I came
famaica: its Natural Aspects aub protracts 87
occasionally upon aspects of nature more exclusively
tropical, such as a great morass, forested over with tall
jungle of various growth, creepers and withes festooning
across from one shrub to another, or hanging pendent
from the branches ; and here and there huge trunks
rising from the morass above the rest, dead piles, clothed
to the top with rank green, and looking in the dusk of
evening like ivy-mantled ruins. Ascending among the
mountains, I found myself, from many an inland height,
looking away to the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea,
veiled in distant haze, or glittering in the nearer sun-
light with a white line of surf all along the reefs
encircling the island. And everywhere, and almost
always, the blue sky overhead, the dancing sunshine
with its attendant wealth of deeper shadows, and the
universal irrepressible luxuriance of nature, filling the
foreground with splendid growths and crowding the
landscape with varied hues of green, — all this gave
to my wanderings through the island a great delight.
It is an island of immense fertility, and its resources
are as yet very imperfectly developed. In the plains,
sugar is still the principal industry. Hence,
produce °f Westmoreland, Trelawney, and Clarendon
are notably the sugar parishes. But the
acreage under sugar is slowly dwindling. All through
the island one lights upon deserted buildings of massive
masonry, broken columns, and crumbling aqueducts,
which tell how completely has passed away the era
when fortunes were coined out of sugar and slavery.
At present it is simply the difficulty of extracting any
profit out of sugar culture, together with some difficulty
as to the procuring of permanent labour, which is
reducing year by year the number of “ estates,” and
transforming them chiefly into “pens.” But it is more
88 ®djc ^torjr of our ®>tcst fnMan $|Ti$sion
largely among the hills that the open pastures of the
“pens,” and their rich fields of Guinea grass, are found.
The red soil of Manchester makes it pre-eminently the
coffee-growing parish ; and the clayey loam of St. Mary’s
seems to encourage the favourite banana and the cacao.
In the immediate neighbourhood of Port Maria immense
groves of cocoa palms clothe the hillsides with waving
plumes. Universal over the island are fruits and edible
produce of every kind. The sheltered nooks and steep
COLLECTING BANANAS FOR SHIPMENT.
declivities of the mountain uplands, clearings among the
bush, and spots won from the hoary forests by felling
and ruthlessly burning the giant trunks and under-
growth, all are appropriated to “petite culture” by the
natives, ground provisions and bananas claiming the
larger share of their holdings, while coffee, cacao, ginger,
cassava, and other roots and fruits, are grown in more
limited quantities. Dyewoods (logwood) show for the
famaica : its ||nturnl Aspects unit |)robiuts 89
moment tlie highest value among the exports from the
island, but they only represent a draft upon
Exports. , 1 u r •
the natural growth of previous years. Uf
the exports yielded from industrial cultivation, fruit is
the most valuable, coffee next, and sugar is only third ;
the total value of native exports being well over a
million and a half sterling.
CHAPTER IX
THE JAMAICA OF TO-DAY : PEOPLE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS
Parishes.
Jamaica has from an early period been divided into the
three counties of Surrey (E.), Middlesex (Central), and
Cornwall (W.). Of more importance is the
division for administrative purposes into
parishes. This division has varied at different times, so
that one finds particular districts popularly described by
names which are really names of parishes now abolished.
At present there are fourteen parishes.
The means of intercommunication between the differ-
ent parts of the island were, not fifty years ago, conspic-
uous by their absence. In 1849, Dr. King
municarion wrote, “The ends of the earth have more
intercourse than the extremes of Jamaica.”
Recent years have witnessed a marked improvement in
this respect. The railway, which is now in the hands
of an American company, under agreement with the
Government, branches at Spanish Town (twelve miles from
Kingston) into two lines, the one of which is almost
completed as far as Montego Bay, while the other runs
more directly north through the Bog Walk, and is being-
extended in a north-easterly direction to Port Antonio.
It is connected by mail coaches with the towns on
the north coast as far as Lucea, and with those on
the south as far as Savannah-la-Mar. From Kingston a
oo
91
§ am aita : its ^fogle anb Social progress
mail coach travels round the eastern end of the island to
Port Antonio, and another across the island to Annotta
Bay. Two coastal steamers make regularly the circuit
of the island. Outside, however, of these few main lines
of communication between the principal places, the means
of travelling must still, as when Dr. King wrote, “ he
owned hy the traveller, or borrowed from his friends, or
hired ” at burdensome charges.
VIEW OF BOO WALK, SHOWING ENTRANCE OF RAILWAY TUNNEL
IN THE PERPENDICULAR CLIFF KNOWN AS GIBRALTAR ROCK.
The leading thoroughfares through the island are
maintained hy the Government in good condition, sub-
ject to temporary damage from torrential
rains or from “come-downs” — sudden and
great spates — on the rivers ; fords being the rule, and
bridges the rare exception. The local roads are main-
tained hy the several parishes. The driving roads vary
92
STIjc J&torg of our ©lest fnbimt $$lissicw
in goodness or badness much as private farm-roads at
home, but a large proportion of the so-called roads are
mere tracks, ranging at intervals through all conceivable
alternations of discomfort, difficulty, and danger.1 There
is a steady, if somewhat slow, progress in the way of
extending and improving the roads.
The postal and telegraph system is fairly complete.
The last Census showed the total population of the
island to be 639,491. Of these, 14,692 were white;
121,955 coloured; and 488,624 black.
Population.
There were also 10,116 coolies, and 481
Chinese.
In estimating the progress of the people in Christian
civilisation, it must not be forgotten that, while
The taint of Christianity may speedily effect a complete
slavery not transformation in an individual, the elevation
1,1 111 of a community requires long and patient
toil. Neither must we forget how short a time has
elapsed since the blighting curse of slavery was removed.
I have met with many men and women who were them-
selves slaves, with some who had entered into youth
before they had heard even the name of Jesus, with one
who received twenty lashes for daring, when a slave, to
give in his name as a petitioner for church ordinances,
and with an old woman who still bears the scars of the
lashes she endured for resisting the advances of a
1 In this connection it may be noted that so remote and
isolated are the majority of our stations, that the keeping of from
one to three horses, and in many cases of a buggy besides, is,
notwithstanding the heavy drain thus made upon their slender
incomes, an absolute necessity for nearly all our missionaries.
Without them our missionaries would not only be cut off from the
requisite intercourse with civilisation, but totally unable — so
great are the distances and so exhausting the heat — to overtake
their pastoral work, or visit their out-stations and schools.
93
famaica : its people anb Social progress
licentious overseer. Moving about among the people,
one feels that the days of slavery, though for ever gone,
are not yet so distant. Their lingering shadows still
darken the life of the people, and the vices they
engendered, or at least intensified, are not to be worked
out of the community within a single generation.
Petty thieving is very common, and deceit and dis-
honesty are also frequent ; sixty per cent, of the births
are illegitimate, but this large percentage is
defects6114 to some extent accounted for by the pre-
valence of a concubinage, which is practically
a state of marriage without a legal sanction. African super-
stitions, while seldom openly acknowledged, are far from
extinct. Obeah charms are still to be seen here and there
on the grounds of the natives ; and the criminal records
report convictions for the practice of Obeahism. Intemper-
ance has not been a prevalent vice, but it is now beginning
to threaten the welfare of the people in certain districts.
In other respects the faults imputed to the people are
such as are common to human nature everywhere, and
are only more patent in them because they are them-
selves more natural, yielding more readily to the impulse
of the moment, and unversed in the concealments of a
more artificial state of society.
Put there are finer qualities to be noted. The
children are equal in intelligence and power of mental
acquisition to those of any other nation, but
Better quail- intellectual progress of the people is
hindered by the limited opportunities of
higher education, the absence of sufficient stimulus to
it, and the great want of a suitable popular literature.
The people are, as a rule, industrious. The distances
travelled, week after week, to the Saturday market to
sell the week’s yield of produce are almost incredible,
94
®h Sstatjj of mu- (ffijst fnbum ptssioir
and indicate a readiness to undergo fatigue in the
earning of a livelihood. The Report of the Royal
Commission, published in 1884, speaks of the Jamaica
negro as the finest tropical labourer in the world, and
an admirable seaman. If fairly dealt with, they are
as satisfactory servants as are to be found elsewhere.
GOING TO MAKKET.
Employers of labour have pointed out to me headmen
on whom they would rather rely than on any white
man they could procure in the island. As a race, the
children of Africa in Jamaica are placid, patient, and
contented; imitative rather than inventive; given to
display rather than intensive; capable of strong and
deep personal attachments, and quickly responsive to
95
famines : its people mtb Social progress
tokens of personal interest and goodwill. Of the
capacity and high moral qualities to be developed in the
race, many of our native catechists and members, as well
as our native missionaries, are a conspicuous proof. If
only family life throughout the island were placed on
its proper basis in pure and well-ordered Christian
homes, there would soon follow an upward movement
into the foremost rank of Christian communities.
Already, however, the signs of the influences of
Christianity are pleasing to contemplate. The Sabbath
is well observed; the churches are thronged;
Hopeful signs. Sabbath schools are largely attended by
both old and young ; prayer-houses are often met with
at convenient points in country places; there are not
many districts entirely beyond the reach of Christian
ministrations of some kind or other; and there are
throughout the island nearly 800 schools, earning a
Government grant, and presenting upwards of 50,000
children for Government inspection. Of course, the
moral character and social condition of the people vary
greatly in different parts of the island. But wherever
an evangelical and earnest ministry has been enjoyed,
the surrounding community bears the traces of it in
superior intelligence and a more exemplary morality,
usually also in a greater degree of material well-being.
Some settlements, where the people own their lands, and
have for a considerable time been ruled by Christian
influence, give beautiful promise of what the whole
island may yet become.
Intimately connected with the social progress of the
Prospects of Pe°ple are the prospects of the material
material development of the island. The tendency
development. -g a]wayS cherish regarding these a more
sanguine expectancy than is equalled by the event,
96
5TIjc Stonj of our ®Irst |nbi;m HUssion
Tlie natural wealth of the island is so great, its fertility
so generous, its tropical climate so fine, its scenery so
magnificent, that one naturally anticipates for it a
growing commerce, and increasing popularity as a
health resort and attraction to travellers. But distance,
the restrictions on communication and traffic, the
heightened risks (from droughts, floods, and cyclones)
and frequent failures of tropical cultivation, and the
heavy taxation, are adverse to rapid progress in these
days, when competition is world - wide and keen.
American capital and enterprise have, however, been
introduced in considerable measure into the island.
There is also a growing export to the American market
of fruit and other produce. The Government has
fostered facilities for the sale by native cultivators of
their modest harvests of bananas, coffee, cocoa, ginger,
etc. This is rendering the export traffic easier and more
regular ; and this, again, is reacting on the people in the
way of an encouragement to invest their labour and any
little capital they can gather in the cultivation of the
fertile soil. Wherever lands are offered for sale in lots
suitable for cultivation, they are quickly taken up. In
this way a peasant proprietorship is being developed,
with improved dwellings and improved
Peasant pro- famqy qfe> g0 far as £]ie material prospects
of the people are concerned, this is perhaps
the most promising feature of the outlook. It probably
indicates the staple industry of the island in the future.
The present shrinkage in the growth of sugar, and its
attendant manufacture of rum, is likely to continue.
The increase in the number of cattle - farms is only
meeting the increased consumption within the island.
Of course, a soil so rich and varied may yet be turned to
more lucrative account in many other ways, which are
97
famaua: its |)coph uni) Social progress
now only being tried on a limited scale. New industries,
too, may yet spring up. There is, for example, a growth
of fibrous tissue every year throughout the island which
is simply incalculable ; and if cheap, effective, and easily-
wrought machinery could be devised for utilising the
fibre, the enormous annual waste of raw material would
be converted into a means of profit. But ibis obvious
that the symptoms of any material advance are still too
uncertain, too largely in the incipient stage, to warrant
any very definite anticipations.
DILDO ARCH.
7
CHAPTER X
THE PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS OF OUR JAMAICA
MISSION
Our Jamaica Mission stands before us to-day as a solid
and impressive monument of the power of the gospel to
create out of sadly degraded materials, and
thanksgiving am^ circumstances of rare difficulty, a fair,
strong, and growing Church of Christ. We
cannot look on this large result of our first mission
work — a Church of 54 congregations, with 10,692
communicants — without devout thanksgiving to God.
And if we also take into view the services which our
mission Church has rendered towards the advancement
of Christian civilisation in Jamaica, our ground for
thanksgiving is widened. Our Church is far from being
alone, she is not even the foremost in the field. Three
other denominations, the Episcopalian, the Baptist,
and the Wesleyan, are doing larger work, and smaller
bodies are also taking their share. But we may
confidently claim for our Presbyterian Church that she
excels the others in the average attainments and ability
of her ordained ministry, in the quality of the religious
instruction imparted to the people, and in the fidelity
and efficiency of the pastoral oversight and training
exercised by ministers and sessions ; and has thus been
carrying her people steadily into the forefront in respect
98
99
Cur fanratca fission
of Christian intelligence and character. The influence
of our missionary Church in the island has thus been of
a leading character, and far more than proportionate to
her size.
The field, indeed, is no longer heathen. Jamaica must
be classed as a Christian island. But what was said by
Present cha- I)r- James Brown and Mr. MTnnes in 1882
raoter of the is still true, that “ it is a mistake to suppose
that Jamaica is no longer a mission field.”
The superstitions of African heathenism are not extinct •
more baleful still is the prevalence of the vices which
have been engendered among the people by the grafting
of slavery upon heathenism; while crudities and im-
perfections necessarily attach to the measure of Christian
civilisation developed among the people at laro-e.
Wonderful as the product of only half a century, and
vying in some respects with the product among
ourselves of, let us say, three centuries of Christian
teaching and training, the moral condition of the people
is still tainted by the evils out of which it has grown,
and is in its better elements still exposed to the in-
security of comparative novelty.
In view of these facts, the task before our Jamaican
Church will be readily understood. Besides winning
The task before souls to Christ, she has to lift the thousands
the Jamaican within her pale, and the community they
<. niuv.fi. leaven, up and forward into a purer and
completer order of Christian life. This implies a
progress on her part, leading ultimately to independ-
ence and self-support. Already her Church life is
creating for itself new organisations of mutual help and
common endeavour. There is an Augmentation Fund,
yielding supplements to the native ministers of from
£10 to £25 ; a Widows and Orphans’ Fund has been
100
ftljc SdoTg of our (idlest fubiuu fission
initiated; and the Home Mission Fund supports the
missionary catechists at the out-stations. A monthly
denominational paper of great merit is every year
increasing its circulation. Committees of Synod are
watching the burning questions of Social Purity and
Temperance, fostering Sabbath -school work and the
promotion of Bible knowledge among the young, and
taking counsel for advancing the life and work of the
Church generally. A most hopeful feature of the
Church’s life is the vitality of missionary motives and
sympathies. Besides the part she is bearing in our
work in Old Calabar and Bajputana, her eyes have
latterly been turning wistfully to Cuba as a clamant field
actually within sight, but which she is hardly yet able
to enter. The mission field in Jamaica itself requires
the extension of the Church’s energies. Aggressive
work is being carried on at the various stations and
out-stations, chiefly by open-air preaching, visitation,
and private personal labour. And besides the practical
heathenism lying immediately about these Christian
centres, there are still some districts in the island which
are barely touched by gospel agencies. Moreover, there
are 14,000 East Indian coolies in the island, and
amongst these the Jamaica Church has resolved to start
a mission.
This picture of our Church in Jamaica may not
appear quite in keeping with popular ideas of foreign
The ideal of missions. There is no longer the picturesque
foreign contrast between an isolated group of heroic
missions. pioneers and an opposing mass of heathenism,
which naturally impresses the imagination of the Church
at home ; the work has advanced far beyond that primitive
stage. But the very success of evangelistic labour intro-
duces new elements into our foreign missionary duty.
©ur |[ am aka Passion
101
We have been led by the progress of our foreign
missionary enterprise into a more statesman-like — or
rather, a more Christ-like — conception of it. In the
first instance, it is a preaching of the gospel to
individuals, but it is still further a “ discipling of
nations.” The missionary Church formed amongst a
people must be guided and aided until fully equal in
her own experience and resources for an independent
completion of the work belonging to her.
Our Church in Jamaica is looking forward to such
independence, and endeavouring to prepare for it.
T . . Meanwhile, it is a distinct advantage to the
to be prepared cause of Christ in Jamaica that our Church
for' there continues to be in dependent union
with a Church life of wider horizon and riper experience.
Its own Church life gains through this union possibly a
firmer fibre, but certainly a richer tone, and a greater
influence upon public opinion. To force our Jamaican
Church into a position of independence by any
mechanical arrangement would be a mischievous policy.
It would mean the undoing of results that have been
gained, and might require a reconstruction of the agency
at work after an inferior pattern. The probability is
that the calibre of the present ministry would not be
maintained, and that the efficiency of the spiritual
training of the people would be subordinated to the
securing of ministerial support by an excessive grouping
of the stations. The experience of other missions in
Jamaica, where such a policy has been tried, warns us
to avoid it. But the fact is, our Jamaica Church -is
r . , not yet ready for independence. Our
at present mission was inaugurated as a mission to the
impracticable. siaveSj anq jias nobly followed its original
inspiration by carrying forward its beneficial work
102
SCIjc §tonr of our Solcst fnbhm Mission
mainly amongst their descendants. They are a poor
people, and amongst a very large proportion the poverty
is extreme. “ The wealthy and middle classes are
almost entirely unrepresented in the Jamaica Church.
With only an occasional exception, the membership of
the country congregations is composed of small settlers,
whose settlements do not exceed six acres, and are in
the vast majority of cases from half an acre to three
acres ; and of day labourers, whose wage does not
exceed 5s. per week, but who have also small provision
grounds, which contribute to the support of their
families. Even the four or five town congregations
furnish very few exceptions.” 1 While their liberality
is relatively greater than that of the Church at home,
their resources are nearly exhausted by the endeavour
to support their ministers. What is left over is not
adequate for the maintenance of property (an important
item in a tropical climate) or the erection of buildings
for evangelistic extension. It is as yet only “ the day
of small things ” with the various funds and schemes
which are the proper equipment of an independent
Church. The progress of the mission has been greatly
retarded by prolonged vacancies, and by an inadequate
staff. Out-stations ought to have been developed into
separate charges, blew openings presenting themselves
in new settlements ought to have been promptly
taken advantage of. Unhappily, both the means and
the men have been lacking for that vigorous policy of
development and extension which is the true way to
prosperity and early self-support.
In these circumstances our duty is clear. The
Church which God has honoured us to raise up in
1 These sentences from the Report by the Rev. Dr. James Brown
and R. W. MTnnes in 1882 are substantially accurate to-day.
Our famarra mission
103
Our duty.
Jamaica is manifesting a growing efficiency. That does
not mean for us a release from helping, but
an obligation to furnish gratefully and
hopefully all the help that may be needed. It is no
doubt upon other, far larger, and unquestionably more
clamant fields that the enlarging missionary energies of
our Church must he concentrated in growing measure
in the future. But let it not he at the expense of
failing to carry our work in our oldest mission field to
a rich completion. The debt we owe the people of
Jamaica is not yet paid. We stole them from their
homes ; we perpetrated against them the crime of
enslavement ; we vitiated them by long years of brutish
bondage. For the Act of Emancipation we paid their
so-called owners a compensation of six millions ; but
for the long years of wrong done to themselves, the
atonement of love will not be fulfilled until they are
lifted into the full and free enjoyment of the brotherhood
of life in Christ.
What may be the ultimate design of God in entrusting
this section of the offspring of Africa into our Christian
care we cannot yet discern. He “ moves in
purpose!110 a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”
But surely from a vine so strangely brought
across the sea, and planted amid blood and tears, and
being now so hopefully trained, it is the purpose of God
to fill, it may be for Africa, it may be for adjacent
islands — may it not be for us also 1 — a cup of peculiar
blessing. And to Him shall be all the glory !
PART II
THE STORY OF OUR TRINIDAD MISSION
— ♦ —
CHAPTER I
THE EARLY HISTORY OF TRINIDAD
When Columbus was on his third voyage to the New
World, he encountered severe perils, and, according to the
superstitious piety of the age, he vowed that,
Discovery should God deliver him from his dangers, he
would give the name of the sacred Trinity
to the first land he should meet with. About mid-day,
on 31st July 1498, “a mariner at the mast-head,” says
Washington Irving, “beheld the summits of three
mountains rising above the horizon, and gave the joyful
cry of land. As the ships drew nearer, it was seen that
these mountains were united at the base. The appearance
of these three mountains united into one struck him as
a singular coincidence, and, with a solemn feeling of
devotion, he gave the island the name of La Trinidad.”
Trinidad is the most southern of all the West Indian
islands, lying in latitude 11° N., and so near to the
continent of South America that at one point
Situation. . . . . .
it is only separated from the mainland by a
distance of twenty miles. A little to the east of the
104
105
&l)e dBarlg Jpbtorg of Shhu&iib
island, the huge Orinoco pours into the Gulf of Paria by
numerous mouths a flood of such volume as to cover the
ocean for many miles with fresh water. Various lesser
rivers empty themselves into the same gulf, and at
certain seasons the currents cause a fierce turmoil in the
channels on either side of Trinidad. So alarming and
sinister did this turmoil appear to Columbus, that to the
passage on the east he gave the significant name of
“ The Mouth of the Serpent,” and to the passage on the
west that of “ The Mouth of the Dragon.” This was the
first occasion on which Columbus saw the American
continent. At first he imagined that the land to the
south was an island, like all the other lands he had as
yet encountered, but on reflecting upon the volume of the
rivers emptying into the Gulf of Paria, he surmised, as
he afterwards found, that it was a continent.
About 50 miles in length and 35 in breadth, Trinidad
presents roughly the appearance of a quadrilateral, with
an area equal to about an eighteenth of
Extent. 1 °
Scotland. Two ridges of mountains run
nearly across the country, along the northern and
southern sides, the higher ridge on the north rising to
upwards of 3000 feet, while the centre of the island is
diversified with hills and valleys. The
island is luxuriantly wooded, enriched by
fountains and running streams, and favoured
with a soft and pure climate. An extraordinary natural
phenomenon is a pitch lake, situated on a small pro-
montory, about 80 feet above the sea level, and about a
mile and a half in circumference.
Trinidad was taken possession of by the Spanish in
1588. Seven years later, Sir Walter Raleigh made a
descent upon it, and a hundred years afterwards it was
invaded and plundered by the French. But it remained
Natural
features.
106
®bc Utorg of our ®rinibnb pissiott
under Spanish sway till its capture by Sir Ralph Aber-
Became an cromby in 1797, the English possession being
English posses- afterwards confirmed in the Treaty of Amiens
S10n' in 1801 . To this lengthened Spanish domina-
tion is to be traced the prevalence of Romanism in the
island.
The original inhabitants were described by Columbus
as well formed, with long hair, and even fairer than those
more remote from the equator. But under
Inhabitants. .
the cruelty of Spanish rule they rapidly
became extinct, and negroes were imported as slaves from
Africa to supply the needed labour. The history of the
emancipation of the slaves has been already told in the
former part of this book. What has been said regarding
Jamaica applies generally to Trinidad, but with this
qualification, that the planters in Trinidad were more
willing to acquiesce in the decision of the Imperial
Parliament, and in general showed a more commendable
endeavour to adjust matters to the new order inaugurated
by emancipation. It was in the midst of the apprentice-
ship period that our mission began.
CHAPTER II
ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OP THE MISSION
In 1835 the Secession Synod sent out its first missionaries,
the Revs. James Paterson and William Niven, to Jamaica.
No soooner had they sailed, than Broughton Place
congregation, Edinburgh, adopted the former as their
representative in the foreign field. Then Greyfriars
Church in Glasgow resolved to undertake in
Resolution of °
Greyfriars hke manner the support of a foreign mis-
Church, sionary. It seemed to them desirable to
Glasgow. . .
extend the communication of the gospel to
some other island of the W est Indies besides Jamaica ;
and their attention having been drawn to Trinidad by
two gentlemen from the colony who were at home at
the time, and details furnished showing the spiritual
destitution of the island, they selected it as their field of
Appointment labour- Mr- Alexander Kennedy, who had
of Mr. Alex, just obtained licence, was favourably known
Kennedy. to many in the congregation ; from his child-
hood it had been his desire to go as a missionary to the
heathen, and he was unanimously and cordially adopted
by the congregation as its foreign missionary. The
Synod accepted the proposals of the Greyfriars congrega-
tion, and thus the name of Alexander Kennedy stands
third upon the roll of missionaries sent out by the Secession
Synod. He landed at Trinidad on 25th January 1836.
107
108 ®(jc JMoqr of our Shiiubab |psstoir
At that time the population of tlie island was nearly
■45,000, of whom a fourth part resided in the capital, Port
condition of Spain. One-lialf of the inhabitants were
the popuia- free, enjoying equal privileges without refer-
tion' ence to colour ; the remainder were blacks
in the stage of apprenticeship intermediate between
slavery and emancipation. Of the free inhabitants a
considerable majority were of French or Spanish extrac-
tion, speaking corrupt dialects of these languages, and
retaining in a great degree the manners and customs of
the nations from which they sprang. Not more than a
third of the whole free inhabitants could be reckoned
as British by descent, language, or manners. Of the
apprentices perhaps a half spoke a corrupt French, a
fourth Spanish, and a fourth English, these having been
mostly brought from other British colonies after the
British acquired the island. The French-speaking negroes
were, however, rapidly acquiring the use of English.
The predominating religion was Boman Catholic, the
Bishop and ten curates being maintained out of the public
funds of the colony ; while an Episcopal
education11*1 cliaPel ancl a Methodist meeting-house, both
in Port of Spain, were the only Protestant
places of worship in the island. There was not a single
school on the island where the children of the appren-
tices could procure even the slightest elements of
education, and only in one or tAvo places Avas there even
a fractional provision for the lower class of the free
population. The majority of the apprentices were in
pagan darkness. “ The black and coloured population,”
wrote Mr. Kennedy, “ are notoriously ignorant and
unblushingly immoral. The Avliole mechanism of society
is opposed to vital godliness.”
After earnest consideration of the comparative de-
fts ©right mib ©ariir f)tstorjr
109
stitution of the various districts of the island, Mr.
Kennedy began work in the Port of Spain.
ndSrawork. Hiring an old theatre, he fitted it up as a
place of worship, capable of holding about
500 persons ; gathered and organised a congregation ; and
administered the Lord’s Supper to the infant church for
the first time on the first Sabbath of June 1837. By
and by, however, a new place of worship was erected,
to which the colonists, recognising the good Mr. Kennedy
was doing, contributed £500, the rest of the cost being
defrayed from Glasgow. Mr. Kennedy’s earnest labours
embraced open-air and district preaching at stations out-
side of the town, as well as in the church, both on
Sabbaths and on week-days. He also began a week-day
school, which soon had over 100 scholars, and to which
Mr. James Robertson was sent out as teacher.
In 1840 the Presbytery of Selkirk ordained the Rev.
George Brodie as missionary to Trinidad, and agreed to
provide for his maintenance. After supplv-
Mr. Brodie i . _ . 1 1, /
begins the mg the station at Port of Spam during Mr.
Arouoa Kennedy’s absence on furlough, Mr. Brodie
began work at Arouca, about twelve miles
straight east of the capital. The inhabitants of the
district were nominally Romanists, and ignorance and
immorality prevailed among them in an almost incon-
ceivable degree. An offer by the Government of a grant
of land for the erection of a place of worship was de-
clined by Mr. Brodie, who, in fidelity to his principles,
insisted upon paying for the ground. Although his
action at first excited surprise, the explanation of it
produced an excellent impression upon the Governor and
others, and had the effect of eliciting willing subscriptions
from them for the erection of the church. The work of
the mission was arduous ; it was literally a case of
110
®ljc fttovn of onv (Tnmb'ab pissloir
“digging out” the people. To get at them, Mr. Brodie
had to arrange no fewer than six stations within three
miles of the chapel, three of which were visited every
Lord’s day, while the whole number who listened
regularly to the preaching of the gospel was only
about 500.
At this time Messrs. Kennedy and Brodie drew
attention to the desirability of beginning mission work
at San Fernando and Carenage ; and the
ordafnedrtSOn result was that Mr. James Robertson, the
teacher at Port of Spain, after attending one
session of the Theological Hall when at home on furlough,
and being licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow, was in
1845 ordained by the Presbytery of Trinidad to work in
Abortive San Fernando, about twenty miles south of
attempt at Port of Spain. Ho place of worship, how-
San Fernando. ev0Tj COuld be procured there, and the
prospect was so hopeless that he removed to Carenage,
where a foundation had been laid in a way most un-
usual at that time. Mr. John Thomson, a
Carenag^ native of Glasgow, had been located as a
teacher there by the West Indian Mico
charity, and had proved himself an earnest evangelist,
meeting with the negroes in a hut for worship, and
devoting himself to their weal. A reduction of the Mico
funds having obliged the cancelling of his appointment,
Mr. Thomson bought the beautiful estate of Covigne,
and prospered as a planter. But his love for the negroes
and evangelistic fervour were unabated. Building a
small chapel in 1843, he taught the people there, with
great sympathy, earnestness, and success, until his death
in the end of 1844. The Rev. Mr. Robertson went to
Carenage to take up and develop the work thus begun,
but, after a few months of very hopeful labour, he
The Madeira
refugees.
died on 3rd February 1847, greatly lamented by the
community. No successor was appointed,
death ami the name of Carenage soon disappeared
from our mission records.
A very interesting episode brightened the early history
of our mission. Dr. Kalley, a Scotch medical man
residing in Madeira, and a true Christian,
was moved to address himself earnestly to
promote the physical and religious wellbeing
of the native population in that island. At first his
efforts were welcomed, and the municipal authorities at
Funchal passed a vote of thanks to him for his disin-
terested benevolence ; but when it was found that the
distribution of Bibles and religious teaching were awaken-
ing a new faith among the people, the priests stirred up
a fierce and relentless persecution. For simply reading
the Bible, several were condemned to two and three years’
imprisonment. Dr. Kalley himself was imprisoned for
five months ; and some time after his release a mob
wrecked his house, he himself escaping in disguise on
board a British steamer. Several of the converts had
their houses fired at night ; excommunication and a
social ban were proclaimed against them all. One woman,
for refusing in public court to confess faith in the dogma
of transubstantiation, was sentenced to be executed, and
languished for three years in prison. At length the
greater number of them resolved to leave Madeira for
the West Indies ; and the most of the exiles, fully 600
in number, came to Trinidad in the latter part of 1845.
. Mr. Kennedy’s church was freely placed at
tion in their disposal ; elders from among themselves
Tnnidad. conducted their ordinary services ; and
Messrs. Kennedy and Brodie administered the sacraments
to them. The Rev, Mr. Hewitson, of the Free Church,
112
©Ijf §tonr of our ffv’unbab $jpsstou
Dirleton, who had been in Madeira, and had carried on
the work there quietly during Dr. Ivalley’s imprison-
ment, visited Trinidad, and spent the winter labouring
among the refugees. One of them, Ascenio da Silva,
was evidently marked out as their spiritual leader, and,
after giving full proof of his qualifications in that
direction, was ordained as their minister by the Presby-
tery of Trinidad in the beginning of 1848. Before the
end of the year, however, his health completely gave
way ; removal to a colder climate was ordered ; but a
change to New York was followed very quickly by his
death there. It was obvious by this time that Trinidad
Their depart cou^ n°t afford a permanent home to the
ure from refugees. The means of obtaining a liveli-
Trmidad. hood were so limited and so unsuitable, that
the most of them were enduring great hardships.
Accordingly, arrangements were made, through the
American Protestant Society, for their removal to Illinois
to be engaged in the cultivation of hemp, and they
emigrated from Trinidad in 1849. Their conduct during
their stay had been most exemplary, commending their
faith ; and our missionaries parted from them with great
regret. The temporary shelter and aid given to these
exiles of faith will ever be remembered as a great
privilege accorded to our mission. A few, however,
remained in the island, and were taken under the care of
the Colonial Committee of the Pree Church. But what
was originally a Portuguese congregation has now become
very similar to the others in the town.
CHAPTER III
THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF
THE MISSION
The subsequent history of our Trinidad Mission is
chiefly an uneventful record of quiet and faithful toil.
The field did not appeal to the Church at
Quiet work. . .
home like the other fields, with vaster needs
and possibilities, into which it was being called to enter.
Ho sustained effort was ever made to extend the work in
Trinidad beyond the stations already named.
In 1849, Mr. Kennedy resigned his connection with
the mission, on account of the state of his health, and
withdrew to Canada. Mr. Brodie took his place at
Port of Spain, and carried on the work of
changes. both stations, until the Rev. George Lambert
arrived in 1854 to take charge of Arouca.
The trinity of stations, which had been broken by the
abandonment of Carenage, was restored in 1862, by the
transference to our mission of a small congregation which
had been formed at San Fernando under the
San Fernando supervision of the Colonial Committee of the
Free Church, and of which Mr. Lambert now
became the minister. The station at Arouca was filled
by the appointment of the Rev. W. F. Dickson, a native
of Jamaica, and licentiate of the Jamaica Church. His
ordination in Jamaica attracted special attention as the
114
®Ijc JHorg of our Shhubab Pission
first instance of a native missionary being sent out from
our Church there to another West Indian island ; but the
hope of a succession of instances lias not been fulfilled. If
Mr. Kennedy laid the foundation of our Trinidad Mission,
its three stations owe their stability and influence very
largely to the labours of Messrs. Brodie, Lambert, and
Dickson, of whom Mr. Dickson alone survives.
At one time an attempt was made to extend our
mission into the coolie population, of whom there were
30,000 in the island. Already our Canadian
ST t0 th6 brethren tvere working amongst them, and
they invited our co-operation. We had a
suitable agent on the spot in the Rev. John Hendrie,
who had acquired a knowledge of Hindustani as one of
our missionaries in Rajputuna, and who had, on account
of his health, been transferred to San Fernando.
Accordingly, he removed in 1883 to San Josef, the old
Spanish capital of the island, pleasantly situated inland
in a north-easterly direction from Port of Spain, near the
foot of high mountains. No Protestant had been there
before, and in the surrounding district there were 4000
coolies. Among these Mr. Hendrie prosecuted mission
work for four years, with tokens of success and very
hopeful prospects ; but when he returned home on
furlough in 1887, medical opinion was adverse to his
return to Trinidad, and for want of a qualified mission-
ary our work among the coolies had to be abandoned.
But our congregations in Trinidad cordially support the
Canadian Mission.
The membership of our three congregations, as returned
in the statistics for 1892, is 398, with a total
Present state a^enqance at t]ie Sabbath schools of 505.
of the mission.
They raised for all purposes the sum of
T1135, 5s. 9d., while the total outlays on the mission by
fts Subsequent fiistorg mtb present State 115
the Home Church amounted to £208, 14s. 5d. The con-
gregation at Port of Spain has been self-supporting since
1861, and has recently, under the energetic ministry of
the Rev. E. A. M'Curdy, from Canada, begun to extend
its help to the cause at Arouca. The congregation at San
Fernando, were the present vacancy tilled, might soon
attain a similar position. Both these congregations
might be described as “ colonial churches, with a con-
siderable admixture of Creole population.” The congrega-
GREYFRIARS CHURCH, PORT OF SPAIN.
tion of Arouca is more largely composed of natives. In
intelligence and morality these congregations are on the
whole superior to the average congregation in Jamaica.
If oiu’ mission has been limited in area, it has been
strong in character, and borne an influential part in
promoting the cause of Christ. Deserving
Public service c , • • ,, , . .
rendered by it. oi mention is the circumstance that, when
in 1871 concurrent endowment was formally
established in Trinidad, and the Episcopalians and
116
®be ^>torjr of our ®rimbab $fissicw
Wesleyans allied themselves with the Romanists in
accepting its doubtful advantages, our congregations,
along with the Canadian brethren and the Baptists,
publicly protested against such an immoral system, and
have maintained a firm testimony in favour of a more
scriptural relation between the Church and the State.
The population of Trinidad is 190,000. The island
enjoys the advantages of considerable material prosperity
and commercial enterprise, and is intimately
labour'^ °f allied with Scotland in respect both of the
capital and the energy by which its enter-
prise is maintained. In view of the needs both of the
colonists and of the natives, and face to face with a
dominant Romanism, our mission has still a work to do
that is well deserving of the moderate aid received from
the Church at home. If it is doing nothing directly to
leaven with the gospel the great mass of heathenism
imported into the island, still it is to Presbyterians that
the honour of caring for the coolies falls. The Canada
Presbyterian Church has been conducting mission work
among them with energy and success ; and more recently
has founded a college at San Pernando for the training
of East Indians as ministers, evangelists, and teachers
among the 50,000 of their Hindi-speaking countrymen
in Trinidad, and also amongst those of the other West
Indian islands.
It is obvious that the further progress and develop-
ment of our little mission in Trinidad is to be sought in
the way of as complete a union as may be
found practicable with the other Presby-
terian Churches there. Por some time the four congrega-
tions of the Canada Presbyterian Church and the one
congregation of the Pree Church of Scotland have, together
with our own, been under the supervision of a united
|ts £m(jseqttfttt fpisicrrg attfr present Ufate 117
Presbytery, which does not, however, intervene in the
financial and other matters pertaining to the administra-
tion of the several Churches. So happy is the co-opera-
tion at present, that in the eyes of the public there is
only one Presbyterian Church. May we not hope that,
as a contingent of that Church, our mission there may
prove the means of yet more mightily advancing the
kingdom of Christ among colonists, Creoles, and coolies,
and so hastening the true consecration of the island to
the Holy Trinity ?
COTTON TREK.
APPENDIX
1494.
1517.
1655.
1796.
1800.
1808.
1824.
1827.
1828.
1829.
1830.
1831.
1832.
1833.
I
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE
JAMAICA MISSION
May 3. Landing of Columbus in Jamaica.
First importation of slaves from Africa to Jamaica.
May 3. Jamaica taken possession of by the British.
Formation of Scottish Missionary Society.
Arrival of Rev. Joseph Bethune (a minister of the
Church of Scotland), and Messrs. Clark and Reid,
first agents of Scottish Missionary Society.
Death of Messrs. Bethune and Clark.
Abolition of slave importation.
Settlement of Rev. George Blytli at Hampden.
Settlement of Rev. Janies Watson at Lucea.
Settlement of Rev. John Chamberlain at Port Maria.
Formation of congregation and opening of church at
Hampden.
Settlement of Rev. Hope M. Waddell at Cornwall
(Mount Zion).
Formation of congregation at Port Maria.
Settlement of Rev. John Simpson at Greenisland.
Opening of church at Port Maria.
Settlement of Rev. John Cowan at Carronliall.
Oct. 28. Death of Rev. John Chamberlain at Port Maria.
Jan. 17. Formation of congregation and first observance of
Lord’s Supper at Cornwall.
April 14. Beginning of Presbyterian services at Montego Bay
by Rev. George Blytli.
Formation of congregation at Greenisland.
Transference of Rev. John Simpson to Port Maria.
118
^ppeubb
119
1834.
Friday, )
Aug. 1. f
„ Sept. 10.
,, Nov. 23.
1835.
1836. Feb. 10.
,, March.
1837.
,, Sept. 5.
1838.
„ July 1.
„ Aug. 1.
1839.
Formation of congregation at C'arronhall.
Partial abolition of slavery (apprenticeship). Aboli-
tion of Sunday market.
United Secession Synod resolves to send two mis-
sionaries to Jamaica.
Death of Mrs. Simpson at Port Maria.
Settlement of Rev. James Paterson (formerly of Auch-
tergaven) at Montego Bay, and of Rev. William
Niven at Morgan’s Bridge (Stirling), agents of
United Secession Church.
Settlement, and death, of Rev. Thomas Leslie at
Greenisland.
Opening of station at Mile End (Goshen) by Rev.
John Simpson.
Opening of station at Navarre (Bellevue) by Rev.
George Blytli.
Removal of Rev. James Paterson from Montego Bay to
new station at Cocoa Walk (New Broughton).
Formation of Jamaica Mission Presbytery at Montego
Bay.
Settlement of Rev. P. Anderson at Navarre.
Formation of congregation at Bellevue (Navarre)
Opening of station at Flowerhill (Friendship).
Settlement of Mr. James Drummond, catechist teacher,
at Hampden.
Formation of congregation at Cocoa Walk.
Settlement of Rev. William Jameson at Goshen.
Opening of station at Rosehill.
Settlement of Rev. James Niven at Crosspaths (Friend-
ship).
Death of Mrs. Watson at Lncea.
Settlement of Mr. John Aird, catechist, at Rowe’s
Corner (Alligator Pond).
Settlement of Davidson Black, catechist, at Golden
Grove.
Formation of congregation at Flowerhill.
Settlement of William Kay, catechist, at Mount Zion ;
of James Elmslie, catechist, at Greenisland ; and
of David Moir, catechist, at Goshen.
Opening of church at Mount Zion.
Termination of apprenticeship system and complete
emancipation of the slaves.
Settlement of Rev. Wm. Scott at Hillside (Ebenezer).
Transference of Mr. William Kay to Mount Horeb.
120 ^jjpxnbu-
1839. Opening of station at Mile Gully (Mount Olivet)
under Mr. John Aird, catechist.
,, July 12. Death of Mrs. Jameson at Goshen,
s ? Formation of congregation at Goshen ; of congrega-
tion at Hillside (Ebenezer) ; and of congregation at
Crosspaths.
u Settlement of Messrs. William Anderson at Rosehill,
John Scott at Mount Zion, David P. Buchanan at
Port Maria, Hugh Goldie at Stirling, Peter Leys at
Goodwill, Robert Gregory at Brownsville, and
Duncan Forbes at Lueea, catechists.
,, Opening of station at Negril.
,, Resignation of Mr. David Moir.
1840. Opening of station at Lamb’s River (Mount Hermon).
1841. Settlement of Rev. James Denniston at Montego Bay
(Established Church of Scotland).
,, Settlement of George M ‘Lachlan, native catechist, at
Golden Grove.
,, Opening of station at Philippsburg (Cedar Valley).
,, Formation of congregation at Cascade (Brownsville).
,, Death of Mr. William Kay at Mount Horeb.
,, Aug. 14. Death of Rev. William Scott at Hillside.
,, Sept. Jamaica Mission Presbytery resolves to begin mission
work in Central Africa.
,, Dec. 3. Death of Mrs. Simpson at Port Maria.
,, Opening of school at Victoria Town.
,, Formation of congregation at Eliot (American Mis-
sionary Society).
,, Mr. George Millar sent out to conduct Academy at
Bonham Spring (Goshen).
1842. Feb. 17. Ordination of Mr. John Aird at Mile Gully.
,, March 3. Death of Mr. D. P. Buchanan at Port Maria.
,, May. Formation of congregation at Rosehill.
,, Opening of church at New Broughton (Cocoa
Walk).
,, Opening of station at Negril.
,, Oct. 11. Death of Mrs. William Niven at Stirling.
,, Formation of congregation at Chesterfield (American
Missionary Society).
1842-43. Visit of Rev. John Robson, D.D., Wellington Street
Church, Glasgow, to Jamaica.
1843. Jan. 23. Death, by accident, of Rev. James Paterson (New
Broughton).
Settlement of Rev. Warrand Carlile at Brownsville.
121
J^pprabt*-
1843.
1844.
1845.
1846.
1847.
Transference of Mr. Robert Gregory to Lamb’s River,
and of Mr. Samuel Edgerley from Mount Zion to
Mount Horeb (catechists).
Settlement of Mr. James Dickson at Mount Zion, and
of Mr. George Wilson at Goodwill (catechists).
April. Ordination of Mr. James Elmslie (catechist) at
Greenisland.
Congregations at Montego Bay and Falmouth (Estab-
lished Church of Scotland) adhere to Free Church.
New church at Goshen opened by Rev. Dr. Robson,
Glasgow.
Opening of Montego Bay Academy by Mr. George
Millar.
Aug. Opening of churches at Mount Olivet and Hillside.
Formation of congregation, and settlement of Mr.
Hugh Goldie, catechist, at Negril.
Transference of Mr. Robert Gregory to Port Maria.
Mr. J. J. Wood begins work as independent teacher
at Bodden Town, Grand Cayman.
Dec. 20. Jamaica Mission Presbytery appoints Rev. H. M.
Waddell to initiate Old Calabar Mission.
Settlement of Rev. A. G. Hogg at New Broughton,
and of Rev. Andrew Main at Hillside and Mount
Pleasant.
Departure of Rev. H. M. Waddell, Mr. and Mrs.
Edgerley, Edward Miller, and others, to begin
mission work in Old Calabar.
Settlement of Rev. William Paxton Young at Mount
Zion (Cornwall), and Messrs. Caldwell at Mount
Horeb, Clark at Negril, and Strang at Hillside
(catechists).
Departure of Rev. William Jameson to join Old
Calabar Mission.
Sept. Settlement of Rev. James Elmslie (Greenisland) in
Grand Cayman : recognition of Mr. J. J. Wood as
teacher in connection with United Secession Church.
Oct. Rev. William Niven (Stirling) drowned when return-
ing to Jamaica from Grand Cayman.
Nov. 29. Death of Mrs. William Niven at Stirling.
Ordination of Mr. Hugh Goldie (Negril).
Settlement of Rev. John Campbell at Goshen.
March. Departure of Rev. H. and Mrs. Goldie, Mr. and Mrs.
H. B. Newhall, Henry Hamilton, and others, to join
Old Calabar Mission.
122 glp-peulm
1847. May
,, Sept.
,, Dec.
1848.
,, July
,, Aug.
„ Aug.
,, Sept.
, , Sept.
,, Sept.
„ Nov.
,, Deo.
1849. Jan.
13. Formation of United Presbyterian Church by Union
of Secession and Relief Churches : resolution to
negotiate for adoption of mission stations of
Scottish Missionary Society in Jamaica.
Transference of Mr. Robert Gregory, catechist, to new
station at Victoria Town, and of Mr. Janies Dick-
son to Lamb’s River.
1. Ordination of Mr. T. P. Callendar at Montego Bay :
begins services in Established Church, Kingston.
Settlement of Rev. John Scott at Greenisland, and of
Rev. David Wiuton at Stirling.
Presbyterian congregation at Montego Bay joins
United Presbyterian Mission Church.
Departure of Rev. William Anderson to Old Calabar.
15. Ordination of Mr. James Caldwell at Mount Horeb.
7. Death of Rev. W. P. Young at Mount Zion.
22. Death of Mrs. Winton (Stirling).
3. Rev. T. P. Callendar begins services in connection
with United Presbyterian Mission at Kingston.
27. Death of Rev. James Caldwell at Mount Horeb.
Transference of Rev. J. Scott to Montego Bay.
Formation of congregations at Kingston and Victoria
Town.
15. Death of Mrs. Scott.
4. Death of Rev. J. Scott at Montego Bay.
9. First meeting of Jamaica Presbyterian Synod at
Falmouth.
,, Jan. 22. Death of Rev. T. P. Callendar at Kingston.
,, Ordination of Mr. Matthew Strang at Mount Horeb.
,, Induction of Rev. John Aird (Mile Gully) at Green-
island.
,, March 29. Death of Mr. James Drummond, catechist, at Hamp-
den.
,, Settlement of Rev. Walter Turnbull at Mount
Zion.
,, Dec. Induction of Rev. James Watson (Lucea) at Kingston.
1849-50. Temporary supply of Rosehill by Rev. Mr. Muir
(formerly of Largo).
1850. Station at Crawl Pen (The Ferry), under George Rose
(native catechist), adopted as mission station of
Presbyterian Church.
Settlement of Mr. H. B. Newhall (formerly of Old
Calabar) at Mount Ploreb.
Resignation of Rev. George Blytli.
1850.
1850-
1851.
1852.
1853.
1854.
J J
1855.
>>
1856.
Jzljjjmtbb 1 23
Opening of church at Ebenezer for combined congre-
gations of Hillside and Mount Pleasant.
March 16. Death of Rev. Walter Turnbull at Mount Zion
June. Settlement of Rev. Adam Thomson at Montego Bay.
Formation of congregation at Bodden Town, Grand
Cayman.
Aug. 2. Death of Mrs. Winton at Stirling.
Settlement of Mr. John Welch, catechist, at Carron-
hall.
Dec. Arrival of Rev. William Lawrence at Hampden.
Dec. 19. Death of Mrs. Adam Thomson at Montego Bay.
Opening of church and formation of congregation at
The Ferry.
51. Severe visitation of cholera in Jamaica.
Jan. Settlement of Rev. Alexander Renton as theological
tutor at Montego Bay Academy.
Nov. Settlement of Rev. W. S. Heddle (formerly of Brechin)
at Rosehill and Cedar Valley (Philippsburg).
Dec. Settlement of Rev. William Lawrence at Mount Zion.
Induction of Rev. P. Anderson (Bellevue) at Hampden.
Transference of Mr. George Strieker, catechist, from
Mount Zion to Bellevue.
Jan. 4. Death of Rev. David Winton and wife, through burn-
ing of S.S. Amazon on the voyage to Jamaica.
Feb. 22. Opening of St. Andrew’s Kirk, Kingston.
Resignation of Mr. Robert Gregory (Victoria Town).
Transference of Mr. Joseph Hanna (New Broughton),
catechist, to Victoria Town.
Settlement of Mr. F. H. Dillon, catechist, at Lamb's
River.
Induction of Rev. John Campbell (Goshen) at Lucea.
March. Settlement of Rev. Alexander Robb, M.A., at Goshen,
and of Rev. H. H. Garnet (native African) at
Stirling.
June. Opening of church at Mount Horeb.
Resignation of Rev. P. Anderson (Hampden).
Resignation of Rev. J. Cowan (Carronhall) and Rev.
W. S. Heddle (Rosehill).
April. Ordination of Mr. Matthew Strang, catechist, at
Mount Olivet.
Settlement of Rev. James Martin at Carronhall.
Opening of station at Riverside.
Nov. 16. Death of Mrs. Robb at Goshen.
Resignation of Rev. H. H. Garnet (Stirling).
124 ^ppmbk
1857.
Nov. 10.
,, Deo. 27.
1858.
„ May 20.
1859.
1860.
” May 23.
,, July 9.
1860-61.
1861.
„ July 3.
1862. Jan. 2.
July.
,, Sept. 23.
1863. June 17.
Settlement of Rev. Thomas Boyd at Roseliill and
Cedar Valley, of Rev. Daniel M'Lean at Hampden,
of Rev. William Gillies at Goshen, and of Rev.
William Whitecross at Bodden Town and Bast
End, Grand Cayman.
Departure of Rev. Alexander Robb, M.A., to Old
Calabar.
Ordination of Mr. Duncan Forbes, catechist, and
settlement at Stirling.
Death of Rev. Matthew Strang (Mount Olivet) at
Bothwell, Scotland.
Licensing of Messrs. George Strieker, James Robert-
son (natives), and H. B. Newliall (American),
students from Montego Bay Academy.
Ordination of Mr. H. B. Newliall at Mount Horeb.
Induction of Rev. John Aird (Greenisland) at Bellevue.
Ordination of George Strieker at Greenisland.
Opening of station at Little London.
Induction of Rev. Alexander Renton (theological
tutor at Montego Bay) at Mount Olivet.
Abandonment of station at The Ferry.
Free Church congregation at Falmouth joins Jamaica
Presbyterian Church.
Resignation of Mr. F. H. Dillon (Mount Hermon).
Induction of Rev. William Gillies (Goshen) at
Falmouth.
Transference of Mr. John Welch, catechist, to Goshen.
Death of Mrs. Forbes at Stirling.
Death of Mrs. Gillies at Falmouth.
Settlement of Mr. M. G. Mitchell, catechist, at Cedar
Valley, and of Mr. Andrew Willis at Mount Hermon.
Great revival of religion throughout Jamaica.
Resignation of Rev. George Strieker (Greenisland).
Ordination of Mr. John Welch at Goshen.
Formation of congregation at Riverside.
Ordination of Mr. Andrew Willis at Mount Hermon.
Ordination of Mr. James Robertson at Greenisland.
Opening of station at Pondside.
Opening of church at Roseliill.
Ordination at Negril of Mr. William F. Dickson as
missionary to Aronica, Trinidad.
Ordination of Mr. Maurice G. Mitchell at Cedar Valley.
Ordination of Mr. Joseph Hanna, catechist, at
Victoria Town.
1863.
1864.
1865.
1866.
1867.
1868.
125
Departure of Rev. J ames Elmslie from Grand Cayman.
Oct. 25. Deatli of Rev. Alexander Renton (Mount Olivet) at
Kelso, Scotland.
Settlement of Mr. F. Swaby, catechist, at Mount
Olivet.
Induction of Rev. H. B. Newhall (Mount Horeb) at
Grand Cayman.
Resignation of Rev. Andrew Willis (Mount Hermon).
July 19. Death of Rev. James Elmslie (Grand Cayman) at
Aberdeen, Scotland.
Nov. 25. Death of Rev. William Whitecross (Bodden Town,
Grand Cayman) at Ayr, Scotland.
Settlement of Mr. James Ballantine, catechist, at
Hampden.
Resignation of Mr. George Miller (Montego Bay
Academy).
Settlement of Rev. G. B. Alexander, M.A., as teacher
at Montego Bay Academy.
Deposition of Rev. D. Forbes, Stirling.
April 16. Death of Mrs. Aird at Bellevue.
July. Ordination of Mr. Frederick Swaby, catechist, at
Mount Olivet.
Rev. H. B. Newhall returns to Jamaica from Grand
Cayman.
Oct. Morant Bay Rebellion.
Dec. 7. Death of Rev. Andrew Main at Ebenezer.
Opening of church at Victoria Town.
April 26. Ordination of Mr. James Ballantine (Hampden) at
Stirling.
July 4. Death of Rev. George Blyth (formerly of Hampden)
at Glasgow.
Resignation of Rev. John Simpson (Port Maria).
Nov. 1. Death of Rev. H. B. Newhall at Port Maria.
Dec. 12. Ordination of Mr. Richard Drummond at Negril.
Settlement of Rev. Thomas Downie (formerly of Nova
Scotia) at Hampden.
Resignation of Rev. William Gillies (Falmouth).
Settlement of Rev. Andrew Baillie (formerly of
Ollaberry, Shetland) at Ebenezer.
Settlement of Mr. Thomas J. White, catechist, at
Mount Horeb and Mount Hermon.
Jan. 5. Death of Rev. Peter Anderson (formerly of Hampden)
at Dunedin, New Zealand.
Resignation of Rev. James Watson (Kingston).
126
1868. Settlement of Rev. William Murray (formerly of
Nova Scotia) at Kingston.
,, Resignation of Rev. Thomas Boyd, on accepting call
to Bishop Auckland, England.
,, Sept. 9. Ordination of Mr. Thomas J. White, catechist, at
Mount Horeb and Mount Hermon.
1869. Settlement of Rev. John Smith at Grand Cayman.
,, June 15. Death of Mrs. Hogg, New Broughton.
,, Nov. 17. Death of Rev. William Lawrence at Mount Zion.
1870. Settlement of Mr. Edwin A. Wallbridge, catechist, at
Roseliill.
,, Dee. 5. Death of Rev. J. Welch at Goshen.
,, Dec. 12. Death of Mrs. Welch at Goshen.
1870-71. Visit of Rev. Dr. H. M. MacGill and J. H. Young,
Esq., to Jamaica Mission.
1871. Induction of Rev. J. Aird (Bellevue) at Goshen, of
Rev. William Murray (Kingston) at Falmouth and
Bellevue, of Rev. James Ballautine (Stirling) at
Kingston.
,. Settlement of Mr. Robert Gordon, catechist, at
Bellevue ; and of Mr. Henry Scott at Rosehill.
,, Ordination of Mr. E. A. Wallbridge at Mount Zion.
,, Resignation of Rev. J. Campbell (Lucea).
,, Induction of Rev. Andrew Baillie (Ebenezer) at
Lucea ; and of Rev. G. B. Alexander, M.A.,
(Montego Bay Academy) at Ebenezer.
,, Resignation of Rev. James Robertson (Greenisland).
,, Rev. Richard Drummond takes charge of Green-
island.
,, Resignation of Rev. T. J. White at Mount Horeb and
Mount Hermon.
,, Settlement of Mr. John M ‘Donald, catechist, at
Riverside.
1872. March. Settlement of Rev. Samuel R. Hanna at Stirling.
,, Nov. 23. Death of Rev. Samuel R. Hanna at Stirling.
,, Nov. 25. Death of Mrs. Baillie at Lucea.
,, Formation of congregations at Somerton and Reid's
Friendship (Golden Grove).
1873. May. Death of Rev. James Watson (formerly of Kingston)
at Edinburgh.
,, Aug. 5. Ordination of Mr. Robert Gordon (Bellevue) at Mount
Horeb and Mount Hermon.
,, Formation of congregations at Coleyville (Bryce) and
at Albany (Salem).
127
g^pcnbiv
1874.
1875.
1876.
„ July 17. Death of Rev. E. A. Wallbridge at Mount Ziou.
,, July 22. Death of Rev. James Niven at Friendship.
Formation of congregation at Hampstead.
Congregation at Eliot connected with Presbyterian
Church.
Rev. Alexander Robb, D.D. (formerly of Old Calabar),
appointed theological tutor at Kingston.
Visit of Rev. William Anderson (Old Calabar) to
Jamaica.
Resignation of Rev. John Campbell, and settlement
of Rev. John Stoddart at Lucea.
Induction of Rev. F. Swaby (Mount Olivet) at Stirling.
Induction of Rev. Andrew Baillie (formerly of Lucea)
at Mount Olivet.
Settlement of Rev. James Bayne at Mount Zion, of
Rev. Leonard Miller at Friendship, and of Rev.
James Robertson (formerly of Greenisland) at
Mount Carmel.
Settlement of Mr. H. B. Wolcott, catechist, at
Rosehill.
Opening of churches at Reid’s Friendship and
Somerton.
Resignation of Rev. F. Swaby (Stirling).
Formation of congregation at Lauristou.
1878. Jan. 25. Death of Mrs. Adam Thomson at Montego Bay.
,, Resignation of Rev. James Martin (Carronhall).
,, Settlement of Rev. James Cochrane (formerly of
Maryport) at Kingston, and of Rev. Quince R.
Noble (formerly of Kaffraria) at Carronhall.
,, Ordination of Mr. H. B. Wolcott at Rosehill.
,, Opening of churcli.at Hampstead.
1876-77.
1877.
Resignation of Rev. Andrew Baillie, of Lucea (after-
wards at Mount Olivet).
Rev. John Campbell resumes work, pro tern., at
Lucea.
4. Ordination of Mr. Henry Scott (Rosehill) at Port
Maria.
Formation of congregation at Seafleld.
Settlement of Rev. Archibald M‘Kiunou at Rosehill.
Formation of congregation at Mount Carmel (formerly
station of American Missionary Society).
Visit of Mr. Tayloe, evangelist, to Jamaica.
Resignation of Rev. James Ballantine (Kingston) and
Rev. Archibald M'Kinnon (Rosehill).
128
1878.
„ Oct.
„ Nov.
1879. Feb.
,, June
,, Sept.
1879-80.
1880. Jan.
,, Aug.
1881. Jan.
,, April
„ Aug.
„ Dee.
J)
1881-82.
1882.
„ Feb.
„ July.
Oct.
Formation of congregation at Chapelton.
7. Death of Rev. Daniel M'Lean (formerly of Hampden)
at Lanark.
11. Death of Rev. John Cowan (formerly of Carronliall)
at Stow.
18. Ordination of Mr. George M ‘Neill, as colleague, at
Brownsville.
15. Death of Rev. Joseph Hanna at Victoria Town.
3. Ordination of Mr. John M. M‘Douald at Riverside.
Opening of station at Ewing’s Caymanas.
Rev. John Hendrie (formerly of Rajputana) takes
charge, pro ten., of Falmouth.
Opening of church at Coleyville (Bryce).
18. Great cyclone.
Formation of congregation at Ewing’s Caymanas.
14. Ordination of Mr. II. Hope Hamilton at Victoria Town.
6. Ordination of Mr. Ernest B. Heighington at Chapelton.
Resignation of Rev. Thomas Downie (Hampdeu).
25. Death of Rev. Warrand Carlile at Brownsville.
Rev. James Martin (formerly of Carronliall) takes
charge, pro tern. , of Hampden.
13. Ordination at Kingston of Mr. Hopetoun Gillies Clerk
as missionary to Old Calabar.
Formation of congregation at Camberwell.
Congregations at Chesterfield and Brandonliill con-
nected with Presbyterian Church.
Visit of Revs. Jas. Brown, D.D., and R. M. MTnnes,
to Jamaica Mission.
Resignation of Rev. A. G. Hogg (New Broughton)
and Rev. John Aird (Goshen).
10. Death of Rev. John Campbell (formerly of Lucea) at
Edinburgh.
Ordination at Kingston of Mr. Ezekiel W. Jarrett as
missionary to Old Calabar.
Deposition of Rev. James Bayne (Mount Zion).
Appointment of Rev. William Gillies (of Scottish
Religious Tract and Book Society, formerly of
Falmouth) to special work in connection with
Jamaica Mission Church.
Opening of church at Cedar Valley.
11. Death of Mrs. Heighington at Chapelton.
Congregation at Brainerd connected with Presbyterian
Church.
Resignation of Rev. John Stoddart (Lucea).
129
^pptniru-
1882. Settlement of Rev. Duncan Forbes (formerly of
Stirling) at Stirling.
,, Induction of Rev. James Robertson (formerly of
Greenisland) at Mount Carmel.
,, Rev. James Martin takes charge, pro tem., of New
Broughton.
1883. Death of Rev. H. H. Garnet (formerly of Stirling) at
Liberia.
,, Mar. 27. Ordination of Mr. James Duncan Robertson at Ewing’s
Caymanas.
,, April 18. Ordination of Mr. George S. Turner at Salem, Eliot,
and Camberwell.
,, May. Induction of Rev. Q. R. Noble (Carronhall) at
Mount Zion.
,, Settlement of Rev. H. L. M'Millan (formerly
of Avonbridge) at Bellevue and Reid’s Friend-
ship.
,, Ordination of Mr. John S. Ingram at Hampden.
,, July 17. Ordination of Mr. Osmond C. Dolphy at Chesterfield
and Brandonhill.
,, Rev. James Morton resumes work at Carronhall.
,, Aug. Opening of church at Ebenezer.
,, Sept. 19. Ordination of Mr. George Davidson, as colleague, at
Goshen.
,, Resignation of Rev. William Murray (Falmouth).
,, Settlement of Rev. William Y. Turner, M.D. (formerly
of Demerara), at Falmouth ; of Rev. William Risk
Thomson at Lucea ; and of Rev. Robert Johnston,
B.D., at New Broughton.
,, Opening of church at Riverside.
,, Formation of congregation at Little London.
1884. Deposition of Rev. J. S. Ingram (Hampden).
,,. Resolution of Jamaica Presbyterian Synod to support
mission agents in Old Calabar and Rajputana.
,, Formation of congregations at Grove Town and Light
of the Valley.
,, Aug. Opening of church at Mount Hermon.
,, Oct. 12. Opening of St. John’s Church, Hannah Town, Kings-
ton : station commenced by native students.
,, Resignation of Rev. James Robertson (Mount
Carmel).
1885. Feb. Opening of church at Baillieston.
,, May. Settlement of Rev. James Ballantine (Paris, Ontario,
formerly of Kingston) at Hampden.
9
130
^jiprnVu
1885.
,, Dec.
„ Dec. 31.
1886.
„ Mar. 21.
,, Oct.
1887. Jan.
,, May 5.
,, July 6.
„ July 7.
? J
1888. March.
„ Oct. 10.
Oct. 25.
1889. Feb. 11.
,, June 25.
,, July 15.
Induction of Rev. H. II. Hamilton (Victoria Town)
at Mount Carmel and Light of the Valley, of Rev.
H. L. M‘Millan (Bellevue and Reid’s Friendship)
at Grand Cayman, and of Rev. John Smith (Grand
Cayman) at Bellevue and Reid’s Friendship.
Resignation of Rev. E. B. Heighington (Chapelton)
and of Rev. D. Forbes, Stirling.
Opening of church and formation of congregation at
Alligator Pond.
Ordination of Mr. John K. Braliam at Victoria Town.
Formation of congregation at Pondside.
Death of Rev. William Murray (formerly of Fal-
mouth) at Canning, Nova Scotia.
Resignation by Rev. L. Miller of Friendship charge,
and of Rev. M. G. Mitchell (Cedar Valley).
Formation of congregation at St. John’s, Kingston.
Induction of Rev. G. Davidson (Goshen) at Bryce
Church (Coleyville).
Opening of Carlile Memorial Church at Pondside.
Ordination of Mr. George S. Paterson at Stirling
and Little London.
Ordination of Mr. James K. Gammon at Friendship.
Resignation of Rev. William Gillies and of Rev. G.
S. Turner (Salem and Eliot).
Induction of Rev. G. Davidson (Bryce) at Chapelton.
Ordination of Mr. Robert Dingwall at Bryce.
Induction of Rev. E. B. Heighington (formerly of
Chapelton) as colleague at Goshen.
Death of Rev. Richard Drummond at Greenisland.
Resignation of Rev. J. K. Braliam (Victoria Town)
and Rev. Alex. Robb, D.D. (Kingston College).
Rev. L. Miller (formerly of Friendship) takes charge,
pro tern., of Brownsville.
Death of Rev. John Aird (Goshen) at Villaflelcl.
Ordination of Mr. Archibald H. Hamilton at Green-
island, and of Mr. Isaac N. D. Gordon at Cedar
Valley.
Resignation of Rev. Andrew Baillie (Mount Olivet)
and of Rev. H. B. Wolcott (Rosehill).
Ordination of Mr. Win. A. O’Sullivan at Victoria Town.
Ordination of Mr. Samuel R. Brathwaite at St.
John’s, Kingston.
Formation of congregations at Baillieston ; and at
North Side, Grand Cayman.
1889-90.
gipprabk 131
Visit of Rev. George Robson, D.D., and Rev. William
Boyd, LL.D., evangelistic deputies, to Jamaica
Mission.
1890. Jan. 1. Death of Rev. John Simpson (formerly of Port Maria)
at Kingston.
- Resignation of Rev. Janies Martin (Carronliall).
,, Appointment of Revs. G. B. Alexander, M.A., and
Robert Johnston, B.D., as theological tutors.
,, April 2. Opening of church at Mount Carmel.
,, April 17. Opening of church at Mount Olivet.
,, April 30. Induction of Rev. George M'Neill (Brownsville) at
Mount Olivet.
, , Oct.
Resignation of Rev. 0. C. Dolpliy (Chesterfield).
Settlement of Rev. Samuel M ‘Dowell at Carronhall,
,, Dec.
Mr. John Moore, B.D., probationer, appointed to a
year’s service in Jamaica.
Settlement of Rev. John L. Martin at Bodden Town,
Grand Cayman.
Induction of Rev. L. Miller (formerly of Friendship)
at Rosehill and Brainerd.
1891.
Resignation of Rev. William A. O’Sullivan (Victoria
Town).
April 12. Death) of Rev. D. Forbes (formerly of Stirling) at
Lucea.
,, Oct.
Settlement of Rev. John F. Gartsliore (formerly of
Old Calabar) at Brownsville.
Induction of Rev. Dr. William Y. Turner (Falmouth)
at Castleton, Brandonhill, Chesterfield, and Camber-
well.
1892. Jan.
,, March.
Opening of church at Light of the Valley.
Induction of Rev. H. H. Hamilton (Mount Carmel)
at Goshen and Derry.
,, March.
,, May.
Opening of church at Brainerd.
Rev. James M‘Nee (formerly of Guardbridge) takes
charge, pro tem., of Lucea.
, , Sept.
)>
Settlement of Rev. Thomas D. M‘Nee (formerly of
Wester Pardovan), as colleague, at Montego Bay.
Settlement of Rev. S. H. Wilson (San Fernando,
Trinidad) at Falmouth.
Opening of station at Cypress Hall.
Mr. W. R. Cordiner, M.A., probationer, appointed
to a year’s service in Jamaica.
1893.
The Rev. H. B. Wolcott’s engagement as a missionary
terminated.
^pjmvbk
The Rev. W. Risk Thomson, of Lucea, appointed to
Old Calabar, and the Rev. James Macnee appointed
to Lucea.
New churches opened at Ewing’s Caymanas, Eliot,
Salem, and Little London.
Mission church opened at West End, Kingston, by St.
Andrew’s congregation.
The Rev. Edward Ross, M.A., appointed to Salem
and Eliot.
The Rev. W. Stevens Smith, M.A., appointed to
Victoria.
The Rev. James Robertson, formerly of Mount
Carmel, died 31st August.
New congregation formed at Cacoon.
New station opened at Savannah-la-Mar.
glppmirk
133
II
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE
TRINIDAD MISSION
1836. Jan.
1837.
1839. -
1845.
1847. Feb. 3.
1849.
1850.
1854.
1862.
„ July.
1870.
1872.
1874.
1875. Oct. 7.
1877.
1878.
1881. Mar. 10.
Settlement of Rev. Alexander Kennedy at Greyfriars
Church, Port of Spain.
Arrival of Mr. James Robertson, teacher, at Trinidad.
Settlement of Rev. George Brodie at Arouca.
Attempt by Rev. James Robertson to found a station
at San Fernando ; and withdrawal to Carenage, and
settlement there.
Death at Port of Spain of Rev. James Robertson of
Carenage.
Resignation of Rev. Alex. Kennedy, Port of Spain.
Transference of Rev. George Brodie to Port of Spain.
Settlement of Rev. George Lambert at Arouca.
Free Church at San Fernando joins United Presby-
terian Mission : Rev. G. Lambert (Arouca) settled
at San Fernando.
Settlement of Rev. W. F. Dickson (native of Jamaica)
at Arouca.
Resignation of Rev. George Lambert (San Fernando).
Settlement and resignation of Rev. Alexander Burr
(formerly of Pitrodie) at San Fernando.
Rev. Dr. S. T. Anderson takes charge of mission at
San Fernando.
Death of Rev. George Brodie at Port of Spain.
Settlement of Rev. Alexander Falconer (formerly of
Nova Scotia) at Port of Spain.
Rev. Dr. Anderson leaves mission at San Fernando.
Settlement of Rev. D. S. Henderson at San Fer-
nando.
Death of Rev. D. S. Henderson at San Fernando.
Settlement of Rev. John Hendrie (formerly of Raj-
putana) at San Fernando.
134
1883.
JJ
1885.
1887.
1890.
1891.
1892.
Rev. John Hendrie (Sail Fernando) begins work
among Hindu coolies at St. Joseph.
Settlement of Rev. Stephen H. Wilson at San Fer-
nando.
Resignation of Rev. Alexander Falconer, and settle-
ment of Rev. William Aitken (formerly of Singa-
pore) at Port of Spain.
Resignation of Rev. John Hendrie (St. Joseph).
Resignation of Rev. William Aitken (Port of Spain).
Dec. Settlement of Rev. E. A. M ‘Curdy (Canada) at Port
of Spain.
Transference of Rev. S. H. Wilson (San Fernando)
to Falmouth, Jamaica.
135
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'
MISSION MAP OF JAMAICA
TKp !Edmbargk G«ograptical Institute
STORY OF THE
MISSION IN OLD CALABAR
Henshaw Town.
Mission Hill and
Houses.
Consular Buildings.
Site of Institution.
Site of Old Town
Mission.
rg
3
Hensliaw Town
Beach.
Mission Beach.
Duke Town.
Queen’s Beach.
Site for English
Church.
Institution Beach.
King Eyo’s Beach.
Post Office.
Custom House.
Old Town Road and
Beach.
I
^Missions of the
United Presbyterian Church
STORY OF THE
MISSION IN OLD CALABAR
REV. WILLIAM DICKIE, M.A.
DOWANHILL, GLASGOW
(Bittttlntrjjlj
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1894
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
PREFACE
This is not a history of our mission in Old Calabar. It
is simply the story of our fifty years’ work among the
Calabarese, popularly told. Any one who wishes a
detailed history must turn to the sources from which
this story has been derived- — Waddell’s Twenty-nine
Years in the West Indies and Central Africa, Goldie’s
Calabar and its Mission, the biographies of Jameson,
George Thomson, Campbell, etc. ; and, above all, to the
file of the Missionary Record since its commencement
in 1846.
The writing of this story has been a labour of love,
and has confirmed the writer’s conviction that missions
are the life-blood of the Church and the inspiration of
every vital ministry.
To many of the older members of the Church this
story is knoivn from beginning to end. But there is a
generation growing up which knows little or nothing of
the strife and heroism and triumphs associated with the
5
6 |) «fatc
earlier years of our work on the western shores of Africa.
Wo make appeal to the rising generation, in the hope
that, by reading this story, their knowledge of the past
may stimulate their interest in the present, and lead
them, by the grace of God, to attempt greater things in
the future.
CONTENTS
— t —
CHAP. PAGE
I. DAYBREAK IN OLD CALABAR .... 9
II. FIRST EXPERIENCES . . . . .14
III. SOME SUPERSTITIONS . . . . .21
IV. REINFORCEMENTS . . . . .26
V. IN THE THICK OF THE FIGHT . . .32
VI. FRESH STRUGGLES AND VICTORIES . . .40
VII. IN CHRIST JESUS NEITHER BOND NOR FREE . . 47
VIII. FRESH FIELDS AND NEW WORKERS . . .53
IX. AN INTERLUDE — GLIMPSES OF CALABARESE LIFE . 58
X. IN THE SHADOW . . . . .62
XI. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS . . . 71
XII. FORWARD ! . . . . . .80
APPENDIX . . . . . .92
7
THE’ STORY OF THE MISSION IN
OLD CALABAR
CHAPTER I
DAYBREAK IN OLD CALABAR
In July 1841 — a few years after the emancipation of
the slaves in the West Indian Islands — there met in
Goshen a company of ministers and elders called the
Presbytery of Jamaica. For two years it
Jamaica617 °f ^ia(^ uPon itself as a burden the evan-
gelisation of Africa, but the design seemed
only like a dream, the spell of which was broken each
time the company dispersed into the glare of common
life. At this meeting, however, an event occurred
which ripened the faith and the courage of the brethren,
and led to decisive action.
This event was the arrival of a copy of Sir T. E.
Buxton’s book on the Slave Trade and its Remedy.
This book was greedily perused; and so
Buxton*’6 °f much light did it cast upon the problem,
“ Slave Trade that an express messenger was sent to King-
Remedy” Aon to buy up a dozen copies which had
just reached there, so that each congrega-
tion might have a copy. Buxton, who, along with
10
Sstorjr of the fission hr ©111 Calabar
Wilberforce, had devoted his life to the abolition of
slavery, warmly advocated the capacity of the negro for
religious training, and at the same time, with remark-
able insight, interpreted the generosity of the freed-
men’s hearts. He argued that “ a race of teachers of
their own blood is already in course of active preparation
for them ; that the providence of God has overruled
even slavery and the slave trade for this end ; and that
from among the settlers of Sierra Leone, the peasantry
of the West Indies, and the thousands of their children
now receiving a Christian education, may be expected to
arise a body of men, who will return to the land of their
fathers, carrying divine truth and all its concomitant
blessings into the heart of Africa.”
The prophecy of the philanthropist assisted its own
fulfilment. The dream of a Christianised Africa en-
chanted and awed each mind.
All other business was sus-
pended, and the day was
given over to prayer. The
Rev. Hope M. Waddell, the
William Carey of the move-
ment, introduced the subject.
T- . * . .. . After he sat down
themselves to all were silent.
Africa- Then each of the
eight ministers present rose
in turn and solemnly dedi-
cated himself to Africa, if
God should call him. The
scene had a moral sublimity of its own— the grandeur
of the object ; the apparent impotence of the means ;
the conviction that “all power” would be with them.
“ Do you ask how I felt? ” says Miss Jameson, who was
REV. H. M. WADDELL.
iBagbrrak in #Ib Calabar
11
Difficulties.
present ; “ I was lifted above myself at tlie noble bravery
of the men.”
But difficulties here began. The little Jamaica Pres-
bytery, composed of agents of the Scottish Missionary
Society, most of them ministers of the United
Secession Church, had to educate Christian
opinion at home. Messrs. Blytli and Anderson, being-
home from Jamaica on furlough, awakened interest in
Scotland. Dr. Eobson of Glasgow, having just returned
from a visit to Jamaica, became a hearty advocate.
Sentiment for a time wavered. The experience of other
missionary enterprises in Africa was disappointing.
Nearly half the soldiers who had attempted to scale the
walls of the stronghold of darkness had fallen in the
trench. Thirty-one out of eighty -nine had, within
twelve months of their arrival, fallen in Sierra Leone ;
seven out of twelve in Liberia; whilst two bands of
nine men, shortly after setting foot on the Gold Coast,
had been exterminated by fever. To some it seemed
madness to send more to the front. But others had
that “ divine insanity of noble minds,” which counts
truth more precious than life, and the cause and com-
mand of Christ more to be respected than death.
Heroism prevailed.
In 1843 a letter from Old Calabar hastened a decision.
King Eyamba and seven of his chiefs offered ground
and protection and a welcome to the missionaries who
might come to Duke Town. Correspondence was begun.
After a year’s delay, Eyamba again expressed his wish
Correspond- i°r ^ie missionaries. But whilst Scotland
enoe with. Old discussed, Jamaica resolved upon action.
Caiatar. The presbytery met in September 1844 speci-
ally to consider the situation, and, having determined to
go forward, it appointed Mr. Waddell its representative
12
^storg of % Ipssiott xix (Dlb Calabar
to Scotland and its first agent in Old Calabar. “ It
will be a sore trial,” said liis wife, “ to leave this place
and people, where we have been so long and so happy,
and to go with these young children to a new country.
But you must go where the Lord calls you, and it is my
duty to go with you.”
INVITATION FROM NATIVE CHIEFS.
Waddell
sets sail.
Men are emboldened by the bold. Waddell set sail
for Scotland in January 1845, and, after a tedious
voyage, in which he was shipwrecked on
Grand Cayman, he reached his destination
and began to press the claims of Africa. The
United Secession Church adopted the mission which
had been born and cradled in Jamaica. In the first
year ,£4000 were raised for its support. Provost Baikie,
of Kirkwall, offered a new sloop to the mission. Mr.
Jamieson, a Liverpool merchant, gave the use of a
brigantine, the “Warree,” and £100 a year for working
13
jpagbteak hr ©lb Calabar
expenses. Expectation ran high. The Church throbbed
with the joy of a new enterprise. The students caught
fire. The Secession and Relief Halls agreed to unite
in collecting £100 — each student to address six public
meetings and to spend an hour on the first Sabbath of
each month in prayer for Calabar.
The “Warree” set sail on 6th January 1846. The
missionary party consisted of the Rev. Hope M.
Waddell; Mr. Samuel Edgerley, printer and
The pioneers. . . , ’ _ . °
catechist from J amaica ; Mrs. Eclgerfey, ex-
perienced as a teacher ; Andrew Chisholm, carpenter, a
brown man ; Edward Miller, teacher ; and George, Mr.
Waddell’s coloured boy. The band of mercy arrived at
Duke Town on the 10th of April, and it was daybreak
in Old Calabar.
CHAPTEK II
FIRST EXPERIENCES
Among tlie first to meet the mission band was King
Eyo Honesty of Creek Town. He sailed along in a six-
oared boat, followed by two canoes of war
Calabar kings. J
manned by twenty-eight paddles, and armed
with swivel guns in the bows. Eyo, a sagacious, clever,
honest, open-faced man, was dressed in native grandeur
• — a silk loin-clotli, a white beaver hat, strings of beads
on neck and arms. Two pages attended him, one carry-
ing his gold snuff-box, the other a pair of pistols and a
sword. Eyo welcomed Mr. Waddell and his friends,
and proved himself to be one of nature’s gentlemen —
courteous, sober-living, and just.
In the evening of their arrival the missionaries went
ashore to pay their respects to King Eyamba of Duke
Town. His “ palace ” was a two-storey iron house, which
had been constructed for him in Liverpool. Its furnish-
ings were beautiful, varied, and to a large extent inappro-
priate. In his yard were to be seen mahogany chests of
drawers, puncheons of rum, hogsheads of tobacco, iron
pots, bales of Manchester cloth, crates of earthenware,
and, although there were neither roads nor horses, two
four-wheeled carriages. Eyamba himself was a large,
coarse-faced, and coarse-natured man, a keen trader, with
a commercial interest in the gospel.
14
15
Jirst (Experiences
In a few days arrangements were made in regard to
the site of the mission station. “ I look long time for
you,” said Eyamba; “glad you come now for live
here; look about and choose what place you like for
make house ... I glad you come. That palaver
done.”
JSText Sabbath a Bible from friends in Scotland was
presented to the king. He received the missionaries in
state in an elegant apartment. Eyamba, in satin hat
DUKE TOWN.
and feathers and waist-cloth, and beads and brass, strutted
in front of the large mirrors which hung around the
room. Two peacocks did likewise. By-and-by Eyamba
sat down on a chair of solid brass under a canopy.
Four sofas were provided for the missionaries. The
Bible was presented, the object of the mission explained,
and Eyamba, proud of his good fortune and vaguely
expectant of better fortune, thanked the missionaries
and the God Avho sent them.
16
Ulorg of % Piggion in #lb Calabar
The site which was chosen was one of the best around
Duke Town. It was on a hill between Duke Town and
The site of Henshaw Town, which were separated by
mission at . the distance of about a mile. But the bush
Duke Town. jiad to be cleared away. Then Waddell
discovered something of the inhumanity of heathenism.
This well-known haunt of panthers was the receptacle
for the corpses of the commonalty. Bodies in all stages
of putrefaction were found ; and even during clearing
operations, the newly dead were brought, tied hands
and feet, slung over a pole, to be tossed into the bush.
After many protests, Waddell got this stopped, and,
having brought trunks of trees from the mangrove
swamps seven miles away, the house was at length
built, the printing - press set up, and the gospel
preached.
Some strange customs soon came under observation.
The Calabar week was found to have eight days. The
first was a general holiday, on which the
Some strange p-jngS entertained. The royal dinners were
customs. ° J
sumptuous in their own way. Yams and
fish and palm oil, yams and goat-flesh, pounded yams
or fufu, were favourite dishes. A piece of the fufu
the size of an egg was rolled by the guest between his
hands, and, having stuck his middle finger into the
savoury ball, he dipped it into the sauce, and bolted it
whole. Eyamba was not an abstainer. When he
quaffed his potion, one of the “ gentlemen ” went beneath
the table and held his toes — a custom the origin of
which is enveloped in obscurity. It may have been
an expedient for the preservation of the equilibrium of
royalty. Eyo, king of Creek Town, on the other hand,
was abstemious. The captain of one of the trading
vessels which brought the drink, once asked him, whilst
17
Jfirsf mammas
at dinner, “ Why do you never drink wine 1 ” “ If I
begin to drink wine,” replied Eyo, “ what will become
of my trade, and of yours too ? ”
The inhabitants were found to be keen traders. Their
markets were as busy as bee-hives. Their coinage con-
sisted of brass rings and rods — still, to a large extent, the
coin of the realm ; so that a chief requires a slave to
carry his collection to church, and the church plate has
to be a box of considerable dimensions. Fish, flesh, yams,
plantains, and shrimps meet the eye, and the imagina-
tion is awakened by the fact that the butcher meat is
sold ivitli the skin and hair on. The purchaser thus
knows what he is getting. The custom was resorted
to in the old slave-trade times, to prevent cannibalism,
conscious or unconscious.
Gentility and brass go together. The rings around
arms and legs indicate a woman’s rank. Indeed, the
burden of rank is sometimes unbearable.
gentlewomen. 0ne of Eyamba’s girls was so weighted
with brass that she could not walk to school
— she had to be carried on a slave’s back. But the
anklets were a protection to those who could afford
to wear them. Were you to see some women coming
along clothed with little else than these ornaments, a
native would tell you : “ They be gentlewomen. If any
man meets them, and want to put hands on them, when
he see the brass rings he fear.”
Not long after the house was built, our missionaries
were honoured with a royal visit. Eyamba entered his
four-wheeler, called in Efik “a white people’s
Stcffc© *
cow - house ” — horse - house being meant,
but as the horse is not native, it is spoken of as the
foreign cow. Eight sturdy men pulled like oxen. How
it was pulled through the village streets remains a
18
S&torg of % pmou in #Ib Calabar
puzzle almost as great as the building of the Pyramids.
Up the hill by a mere foot-track it was dragged, lifted,
hurtled through grass and mud-ruts and decayed bush,
till the mission-house was reached, and the king paid his
respects. The journey home was even more perilous ;
but his sable majesty, with characteristic pluck and with
a becoming sense of his dignity, kept on board even in
the roughest tossings of the storm until the palace was
reached, and the four-wheeler was safely consigned to
its accustomed seclusion.
But the humour of this childish simplicity was of
brief enjoyment in face of the pathos of heathenism.
Soon after the arrival of our missionaries,
Willy Tom b 3
Robins of Old they resolved to start a school in Old Town,
Town. and the task was assigned to Mr. Samuel
Edgerley. Old Town is a few miles farther up the Old
Calabar river than Duke Town, and commands a stretch
of river scenery ten miles long as far as Alligator Island.
Here they were met by Willy Tom Robins, the chief, a
superstitious, crafty, mischievous, suspicious old man,
who remained to the end as hard as flint toAvards the
gospel. Willy took the missionaries into his house. At
his doorstep were two human skulls — the skulls of
enemies, as charms against enemies. Over his door hung
a wasps’ nest, the Avasps flying about everywhere. Mr.
Waddell suggested to break it down. “Ho, no, no for
touch ; them my doctor and keep my house.” “ Better
you trust in God and pray to Him to keep you.” “Yes,
God do everything ; He do good ; He do bad.” The
omnipotence of God had no protection for Willy. The
wasps at least prevented calamity.
Willy resisted light as if it were fire. Mr. Edgerley
laboured there for some years, teaching, preaching, and
printing, but old Willy frustrated every effort. It Avas
19
(first ®*pmetrtes
found necessary to clear away the bush around a spring,
from which the mission drew its drinking water. Willy
complained of disturbing his shadow, or soul, which, he
said, he kept in that sacred place. “ You always tell me
that man must mind his soul. Why do you send your
men to cut hush that place my soul live, and trouble my
soul 1 Make them go away, and no trouble my soul no
more.”
The missionaries found the work progressed most
rapidly in Creek Town. Here a house had been built.
King Eyo acted as interpreter, and his per-
imed^ing*" solia^ influence was exerted in favour of the
new cause. He was an enlightened man,
and was anxious to see the abolition of many of the
heathen and cruel customs of his people, hut he was too
prudent to compel obedience. At Duke Town, Eyamba’s
brother, known as Mr. Young, acted as interpreter ; but
his lack of sympathy with the message weakened its
power. Sometimes Mr. Young took more than an inter-
preter’s liberty in rendering the speaker’s thoughts. In
translating an address on the rich man and Lazarus, he
interpolated, for the edification of the hearers, that as
for himself, he would prefer to he the rich man. On
another occasion, when the missionary imagined that
the divine message was being delivered, it was dis-
covered that Mr. Young was improving the occasion
by giving the audience instructions regarding some
piece of work he had on hand. Difficulties like these
do not now occur. Our missionaries speak in the
tongue of the natives.
In October 1846, after six months of pioneering, Mr.
Waddell set sail for Jamaica to report and to bring back
reinforcements, whilst the rest of the mission party went to
Fernando Po to escape “ the smokes,” or dry, hazy season.
20
Stonr of % Ipssrow itt (HHb Calabar
Reporting
progress.
The experience of these few months had deepened his
sense of the needs of Old Calabar, as well
as inspired him with the hope of winning
the land for Christ. A successful beginning
had been made. Schools had been opened, the gospel
had been preached, the first printed pages in the Ef'ik
language had been issued by Mr. Edgerley. But an
event happened shortly before their departure, which
opened their eyes to the tremendous savagery of heathen-
ism. This event was the death of John Duke, and leads
us to speak of some of the superstitions of the people.
CHAPTER III
SOME SUPERSTITIONS
The death of John Duke revealed the darkest side of
Calabar life. This event happened only a few days
tefore Mr. Waddell’s departure for Jamaica, but even in
June strong suspicions of the prevalence of human sacri-
fice had been roused. Egho Jack’s principal wife had
died, and the mourning husband had sent to the planta-
tion for a number of his slaves. Next day
amgator°US a ^ar8'e alligator floated down the river past
the ship in which Waddell was preaching.
It seemed helpless with gluttony. The natives, who
knew the talk of the town, explained the phenomenon
by the fact that Egbo Jack had sacrificed four slaves to
express his sorrow and to do his wife honour ; whilst
Eyamba, Adam Duke, and Archibong had slain one each
out of respect for their friend. They had cast the poor
victims into the river. When Waddell accused them of
this crime, they evaded the charge or were silent. One
replied that men were killed in England by law ; another
made the significant assertion — “ Slaves he nothing.”
But when John Duke died in October 1846 the
funeral rites were gigantic and ghastly. Slaves were
indeed nothing. When they died they were tossed into
the bush ; hut a chief would be nobody if he went into
the world of shadows without a retinue. In Calabar
21
22
^torn of % pxsstoit ht @Ib Calabar
death was not supposed to level social distinctions. “ If
you have no one with you when you die,” said a native,
“ Ekpo country will say, What poor slave is that coming
now? he has not one boy to carry his snuff-box.”
John Duke, being the brother of a former king, re-
quired a retinue proportionate to his estate. His slaves
knew this. Many of them fled on the news
ftmeraf rites death. Women and girls especially
were slaughtered. Five girls were seen
dragged through the town to be sacrificed. The chiefs
each slew several domestics, and sent off their canoes to
their farms for more. The mother of John Duke is
reported to have remarked, “ He has left no children ;
kill the half of the slaves ; no use to leave them behind.”
It is reckoned that one hundred slaves suffered death at
this time, in order to satisfy the dignity of this chief.
Waddell made a noble effort to check this vile super-
stition. He met the king and chiefs of Duke Town, who
had clandestinely taken part in the murders, and brought
the crime home to them so vividly, that by the fear he
created he shook their faith in the barbarous custom.
“ I declare to you before God,” said he, “ your God and
mine, the great God of heaven and earth, that you have
done a great crime, a most monstrous wickedness, and
these poor slaves you have killed will rise up in judgment
against you at the last day.”
Connected with the rites of the dead were some
curious customs. It was supposed that the shadows or
ghosts of the deceased revisited the haunts with which
they were once familiar, and it is a strange commentary
on the savage mind, that it never dreams of any spirit
returning with a benignant intention. The departed are
invariably dreaded, for their power is always baneful.
About four days after burial the face-washing or
23
^ome Shrjjmtitiotts
Uyeriso takes place. Those engaged in the burial then
wash their hands and faces, and supplicate
the dead to do them no injury. In order to
propitiate the departed, a table, covered with household
goods and meat and drink, is erected to supply the needs
of the spirit when it returns from the spirit-world.
But the Ilq>o is the principal funeral rite. It is a
festival in honour of the dead, and is celebrated any
time within a year or so after the decease. It is a time
of great rejoicing. Amusements, dancing, games, and
rum are freely indulged in. A marriage is
"”'J' a dull business in comparison with an Ikpo
or devil-making. Until the Ikpo is celebrated the
widows of a chief are conhned to the harem, denied the
luxury of personal cleanliness, and are treated as if they
were guilty of their husband’s death. When the devil-
making is finished, the widows are flogged and fined, and
either sent back to their own family or retained as the
property of the heir of the deceased.
But the departed do not soon depart. The ghost or
Devil- shadow still
houses. iingers about
town, and for its
convenience a house
is erected and fur-
nished, and stocked
with food. But as
the living are known
to be less honest
than the dead, the
furniture and dishes
are broken. This devil-house, as it is called, is supposed
to be visited and used by the devil, or spirit of the
deceased, when he revisits his old haunts.
HOUSE FOR DEAD MAN’S SPIRIT.
24
Jltorg of tljc fission hr (LDlb ibilnbar
Ndok and
Nafoik'im.
Another curious custom is the Ndok, or biennial pur-
gation of the town. Early in December every alternate
year, all the devils or ghosts are expelled.
This strange ceremony reveals traces of
totemism. The spirits are supposed to have
a mysterious relation to certain animals. The spirit and
the totem are regarded as peculiarly identified with each
other. Hence, against the day of the purgation, rude
figures of tigers, alligators, cows, elephants, etc., are
made. These NabiJdm are distributed throughout the
town. At three o’clock in the morning bells are rung,
doors slammed and banged and beaten, shrieks and yells
and groans fill the streets, cattle stampede through the
town, and every one competes in noise-making to terrify
the spirits. When the day breaks the houses are
brushed down and cleaned out, the totems are cast into
the river, and the town is rid of all its ghosts.
Other traces of totemism appear in some of the
Calabar superstitions. Ultpong is the word used for a
man’s shadow or ghost, but it is also applied
to his totem, or to the animal with which
the man is supposed to be related. The ukpong of the
man and the ultpong of the animal mutually affect each
other. If his totem dies, the man imagines he shall die
also. He is therefore always beneficent towards his
totem, and occasionally is known to be kind to an
animal in which the ultpong of a friend is supposed to
reside.
But the malevolence of heathenism is seen in some of
the customs. The spiritual powers are evil continually.
Among the Okoyong people treaties with
other tribes were ratified by burying a
man alive. His spirit was expected to play
the part of avenger to the treaty-breaker. At the mouth
UkpBng.
Human
sacrifices.
Ssupratitions
25
of the river a tribe of fislier-people sacrificed a young
woman every year to propitiate the river gods and to
secure a good season. Mr. Goldie tells of a chief, who
during his sickness was discovered to have a bundle
lying at his feet. On the visitor poking this with his
staff, there rolled out a human skull. One of his slaves
had been beheaded, in the hope that the slave’s life
might be accepted in lieu of his master’s.
CHAPTER IY
REINFORCEMENTS
The mission party remained in Fernando Po from
October till February, in order to avoid “ the smokes,”
or dry season of Old Calabar — a custom which was
soon departed from. Mr. Waddell returned to Jamaica,
to report regarding the mission venture and
The first t0 demit his charge at Mount Zion. But he
death. °
had not long departed when the first blow
fell upon the little band of workers, in the death of
Edward Miller, the negro assistant — a devoted youth,
once a slave, afterwards a true bondsman of Christ.
The first in our Calabar list of dead, his testimony
struck the note of Christian heroism, which has been
echoed and re-echoed so frequently since the feet of
Christ’s messengers stepped upon that fatal shore.
“ Thank God, I’m on the rock,” he said to good Mrs.
Edgerley ; and when Dr. Prince, the Baptist missionary
at Fernando Po, inquired of him whether he repented
having left Jamaica to come to Africa, he replied, “ ISTo,
I never did,” and once again more emphatically, “ No,
I never did.”
It was not long till reinforcements arrived. The
Rev. William Jameson, of Goshen, Jamaica, a man of
saintly and fervent spirit, had long contemplated the
privilege of pioneering in Africa. Even in the year
20
lUfofomirants
27
1843, when Waddell and he sat under the Aki tree
behind the manse in Mount Zion, musing
over the projected mission to the blacks
— at that time an uncommon undertaking—
Arrival of
Jameson.
strive the happy
the knife,” had
the two eager spirits “ waiting to
strife, to war with falsehood to
covenanted with each other
that if either was called to
go, the other would be the
first to follow. Jameson kept
his pledge, and arrived at the
scene of his labours in February
1847.
Jameson threw himself into
the work with characteristic
zeal. He found that by the
labours of Waddell and Ed-
gerley, from April till October,
much had been done in clear-
ing the ground for laying a
good foundation for the Church
of Christ. Two schools had been opened, a printing-press
had been erected, two schoolbooks had been printed,
an Efik vocabulary of nearly three thousand words had
been lithographed, and the natives had heard the gospel
preached and seen it lived at their very doors.
The absence of the mission party during the “ smokes,”
though it had interrupted, had not undone the work.
Edgerley resumed the school in Duke Town, Jameson
started in Creek Town. Jameson’s school had soon
about sixty children. Every Sabbath he held a service
in the king’s yard, the king acting as interpreter.
Sometimes Eyo advised the missionary regarding his
work. At one time he requested Jameson to tell them
28
ieforjr of lire fpssion in ©lb Calabar
plainly all that was evil in the customs of the people —
which Jameson did with eloquence and earnestness.
But when he found that Jameson shortened the read-
ing of Scripture, and lengthened his discourse, he
shrewdly observed : “ I wish you would read more
of God’s word, for when you don’t read plenty,
the people think that you saby it out of your own
head.” In this way the king granted the “liberty of
prophesying,” and announced and upheld the authority
of Scripture.
Jameson interested the natives in many ways. His
kindliness invented means and opportunities. The
mysteries of the microscope amazed the natives ; but
when he set off the mysteries of the telescope against
those of the microscope, they were confounded. To
bring the people of Duke Town, six miles away, to his
very door in Creek Town, by means of this little instru-
ment, and in less than the twinkling of an eye, was a
miracle which filled the natives with amazement at the
white man’s ingenuity.
Whilst the work was quickly progressing, it was
whispered that Eyamba was dead. The king’s death
was not without some pathos. With that indiscreet
bravery often characteristic of the savage, he presided at
his table when the death cup was already at his lips.
Next day he settled his accounts, visited one of the trad-
ing ships, and remained to breakfast. He left the ship,
and counted eagerly the number of guns fired
He had just reached his house
as the seventh was discharged, when lie
sank back and expired, satisfied that he had received
the honour due to a king.
The work of death now began. Slaves fled, and
every one who valued his life sought a hiding-place.
Eyamba and t
his last salute. as a SalUt ’
Meiufoucmcnts
29
The dreaded news was kept back as long as possible, that
chiefs might procure sacrifices. Edgerley’s man Inga
saw the king’s brother, Mr. Young, as he
TJ1® b™tallty was called, enter a house, fasten the doors,
seize a poor woman, place a strong copper
wire round her neck, and strangle her on the spot.
Edgerley hurried to the king’s house to stop the
massacres. On looking under the door of the room in
which Eyamba died, he saw a number of women who
were waiting to be sacrificed. Chiefs offered up their
slaves. Husbands returned from the fields and found
their wives murdered. Boys and girls were not ex-
empted, and the school had to be shut. A pit was dug,
and Eyamba was laid in it in state on two sofas. His
sword-bearer, snuff-box carrier, and umbrella-holder
were taken to the side of the grave, their heads were
knocked off, and they Avere tumbled into the pit, along
Avith numerous other attendants. Eyamba had a
hundred Avives. Thirty of these Avere sent into the next
Avorld to accompany their master. As each Avas sum-
moned, the order Avas given Avith significant but ghastly
courtesy, “ The king calls you.” The Avife then deco-
rated herself Avith her finest ornaments, drank copiously
of rum, and Avent into the outer yard. Here a piece of
fine Avire, or a piece of neatly tAvisted silk (a mark of
honour paid to a Avife — a piece of cord Avas good enough
for a slave) was put round her neck, and she Avas
strangled.
This Avork Avent on for days. Jameson and Edgerley
Avere horrified by the bloody practices, and made every
effort to save life, but found it difficult to effect much
until Waddell arrived upon the scene, accompanied
by the Rev. Hugh Goldie and other teachers and
artisans. Having heard that more sacrifices Avere likely
30
istorg of fljt $$ttssx<m in Calabar
soon to be made at the devil-making for the king, they
at once took action, and expostulated with the chiefs,
with the result that meanwhile the thirst for blood was
appeased.
The arrival of this reinforce-
ment in June 1847 revived
the work. Creek Town, Duke
Town, and Old Town were now
occupied. Peace had been
restored, and the little band of
workers sat around the Lord’s
Table for the first time in Old
Calabar on the 1st day of
August. But, like a bolt from
the blue, the first great blow
fell upon the mission. The
saintly Jameson, a descendant
of two of the Secession Fathers,
Wilson and Mon crieff, sickened
and died, at the early age of thirty-nine. He had
exposed himself unduly to the weather, had worked too
laboriously, and no doubt had suffered
Death of much from the horrors which succeeded
Jameson.
Eyamba’s death. There were loud lamen-
tations in Jamaica and in Scotland, where he was
well known and well beloved ; but the heart of Calabar
was also touched, and young Eyo uttered the thoughts
of the people when he wrote to Waddell these simple
sentences : —
REV, HUGH GOLDIE.
“ My dear Master and Friend, — I am too sorry about
your brother Mr. Jameson died, and I hope you will
not go away leave us, because God been give us good
friend, and take him away again. We cannot tell why
lUrafortmeuts
31
He do this, but I am very much sorry. I hope God
will keep you well to us, to stop and teach we all know
Him. — With best compliments, I am your friend,
“Y. Eyo Hty.”
Eyo’s words confirm the last sentence of an unfinished
letter of Jameson’s to a friend in Jamaica— “ Our work
here is full of interest and full of hope.”
CHAPTER V
IN THE THICK OF TllE FIGHT
The missionary band, though perplexed, were not in
despair. The probabilities of death had been faced,
and they knew that Jameson had offered his life, like
“an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very
precious,” at the feet of Jesus. They may have
counted, but they did not grudge the cost. There was
no time for foolish calculations when so many devils
had to be cast out. The new apostles proceeded at
once to grapple with the powers of darkness.
In some respects the work was tedious. For a long
time no converts appeared. But converts were being
made. The first duty was to create ■ social conditions
in which it might be possible for converts to live.
For that reason the pioneer’s work was to drive out of
the land the rank superstitions and horrible customs
under which the people were held down as under a
heel of iron. The sublime aspects of Christian truth
could not be fully taught at first. Here, as . in Israel,
the law had to come before the gospel ; idols had to
be abolished, the groves of false gods broken down, and
the native prophets confounded.
In this pioneer work, W addell, Goldie, and Anderson,
the three veterans of Old Calabar still spared to us, did
noble service. They have the singular distinction of
32
33
Jn tbe Chick of the Jfiflht
Translating
and printing.
making a people’s history, and of adding a brilliant
chapter to the story of the conquest of Africa.
veterans.6 The first brush-strokes on the canvas, the
first blows of mallet and chisel on the marble,
are the most significant — they determine all that follows.
So in the founding of a mission the future depends upon
the prudence and fidelity of the first few years of labour.
The consecrated ingenuity and hopeful persistence of
the missionaries -levelled the heathen superstitions and
practices bit by bit. Mr. Goldie soon mastered the
language, and composed a catechism in Efik
and English, four hundred copies of which
were printed in Old Calabar within about
a year. Efe also got the Ten Commandments printed
in Efik on broad sheets, and hung them up in the
houses. The older boys in the schools soon were able
to read the Bible, passages of which were translated by
Mr. Goldie. The work done within about three years
may be indicated by the fact that during that tune Mr.
Edgerley had thrown off from his printing-press 55,300
pages for the enlightenment of Old Calabar.
Other means were taken to educate the people. In
1848 they received their first and much-needed object-
lesson in marriage. In Old Calabar the
ow^caiab™ marriage customs are singularly absurd, as
well as painfully degrading. Wives are
obtained in various ways. They are very frequently
bought. Covenants are often ratified by one of the
parties gifting one of his daughters to the other party.
To refuse such a gift when unacceptable would lead to
the rupture of the bargain. King Eyo had to accept
more than he wanted, as a matter of inter-tribal policy.
The rejected maid would have led to war. Sometimes
parents arranged the match. The young girl is sent
3
34
S'torji of t§e fission in #Iir Calnbnr
before marriage to one of the farms to be fattened, as
fatness is one of the points of female beauty. After she
has been brought up to the proper weight, she publicly
exhibits herself to her admiring friends, hobbling along
still more heavily weighted with her dowry of brass rings
around arms and legs and neck. Then she sits down
and receives her marriage presents. Her father gives his
presents, then rubs some earth on the back of her right
hand, and she is removed to the house of her husband.
Marriage, however, is a distinction which is rarely
aspired to. Only people of some note marry, and even
then it is more regarded as a union of families than
of individuals. A few of the chief slaves marry ; but
most live with whomsoever they like, and only as long or
short as they like. He is a poor fellow who has only
one wife — he is a man of no standing. The elevation of
women was therefore one of the problems which Chris-
tianity had to set itself to face in Old Calabar.
In view of this degradation of womanhood, the mar-
riage of Henry Hamilton and Mary Brown, two of the
blacks who came from Jamaica with the missionary
band, served as a valuable object-lesson on the subject
of matrimony. The ceremony was performed in public,
to the delight of all. The king and his son were present,
together with all the school children. In the evening
Eyo explained the marriage ceremony to the chiefs at
his table ; and what surprised them was that Hamilton,
the lucky fellow, had not to pay anything for his wife !
“ He get such a fine wife for nothing. White man’s
fashion be very good.” Young Eyo, a youth who
promised well, learned the lesson of the day, as may be
seen from his graphic comparison of the Calabar mar-
riage customs and our own. “The singing men and
women,” he said, “bring the woman to the man’s
| it tlje ®bttk of flje Jfigljt
35
house ; she sit down on a chair, and all people come
look at her, so big and fat, and give her as dash plenty
things. Then he have to pay so many coppers to them
people that bring her, and so much chop and rum.
But no one ask them if they like each other, or tell them
word how to do everything proper. Chi ! it he all same
thing as bring two monkeys together. If God keep my
heart I never will marry Calabar fashion.”
But about two years afterwards the first advance in
this social reform was made' by the marriage of two
. natives, Akpo and Odu — the first regular
First marriage ’ L _ °
of native marriage of natives in Old Calabar. This
Christians. happened in 1850, and was a cheering
result of- years of labour. This direct breach of Calabar
custom led some to ridicule and some to revile ; but the
sight of a native and his wife living in Christian wedlock
was as sweet and prophetic to the eyes of the missionaries
as the tender blade of spring to the husbandman.
But another reform had long claimed the attention
of the brethren. In the history of missions it has been
..... , found that the observance of the Sabbath
Agitation for
Sabbath must be secured before much good can he
observance. effected. The commandment to keep the
Sabbath holy is a condition of the keeping of the other
nine. From the beginning King Eyo had been favour-
ably disposed towards this reform, but it was hard to
break the customs of the people. Occasionally a big
palaver would interrupt the observance of the holy day ;
sometimes the market, sometimes the slaves being
forced to work. But the preaching, together with the
example of the mission household, soon began to tell.
In 1849 a young fellow objected to work on the
Sabbath, saying he had done plenty bad things already,
and that he “ wanted to knock off and follow God’s
36
Sstorjr of tlje fission in #lb Calabar
way now.” His master threatened him with death,
bnt he quietly replied, “ Better to die and be saved than
live and be damned.”
The fidelity of this youth gave courage to others.
Abstinence from Sabbath work soon became a mode of
indirect confession of Christ, and led many to identify
themselves with the new cause. But the Sabbath
markets were still maintained, and proved a hindrance
to the gospel. After long and gentle pressure, at the
close of 1850, Eyo summoned the chiefs,
Abolition of J
Sabbath and it was agreed that the Sabbath market
market in Qreek Town should be abolished. It
was a day of victory to the missionaries, and
marked the tide of public opinion. The missionaries
feasted the king and chiefs and a hundred of the school
children, and praised God that henceforth, at least on one
day of the week, the poor Calabarese would have time
and opportunity for learning more of the gospel of Christ.
The arrival of the Rev. William Anderson from
Jamaica, in February 1849, to
take the place of Jameson,
added a new force to the
mission. Waddell was at this
time in Scotland, creating and
satisfying a thirst for mission-
ary information. The Church
was alive with interest, and
vibrated to its remotest parts
with his thrilling narrative of
strange events. ThefirstNew
He boldly re- Year’s Child-
questedthe child- ren’s Offering.
rev. w. anderson. ren to supply £800, in order
to replace the “Warree,” which had now to be returned
fir tljc Sfjtck of tljc Jfigbt
37
to its generous owner. The children surprised the
Church by a New Year’s offering (for 1849) of £3180 !
In the summer of 1849, Waddell returned to Calabar
in the mission ship, and took with him Mr. William C.
Thomson, teacher, and a woman who has
“Mammy” written her name on the heart of Old
Sutherland.
Calabar, Euphemia Miller, long known
(after a married life of less than six months) as Mrs. or
Mammy Sutherland, a rare soul, “ divinely touched,”
who diffused the odour of the gospel wherever she
went.
For some time after the arrival of this missionary
party the work progressed quietly and effectively. Some
of the most cruel customs were being carefully watched ;
and although there was silence, conditions were being
created favourable to decided and successful action
when the horn’ for action arrived. Nor was it long
in coming. On the 5th of February 1850 two
of the Duke Town chiefs, Efiong Bassey and Erern
Cuffey, died. . Human sacrifices were being
sacrifice of offered as profusely as ever, though perhaps
with more secrecy. Anderson heard that
seven of Bassey’s slaves and one of his wives had been
offered ; and that in Cuffey’s household nine slaves had
been strangled and buried with their master, whilst
twelve or fourteen victims were in the yard bound by a
large chain awaiting their death. Waddell was absent
in Bonny, but Anderson threw himself into the breach
with a persistency and determination which merited the
victory which was achieved.
Anderson at once set out to the king, Archibong, who,
on his appointment as Eyamba’s successor, had promised
to “be good friend” with Queen Victoria, and to “ ring
big bell in market-place every God day.” He told the
38
,§torjr of the £$tisston in @Ib Calabar
king that white men would hold him responsible for
the murders. The king was silent in respect to the
charge, but promised there should he no more killing
that day. Anderson followed up this partial success by
calling upon Ephraim Duke, the brother of Cuffey, and
frankly accusing him of murder. Then he visited the
chief known as “Mr.” Young, who at first pretended
ignorance, but who, on finding that Anderson was not
to be trifled with, said with some energy : “ If God
spare me, two years don’t pass before this bad fashion
break off ; but we can’t do things all in a day.”
But Anderson was not content with scaring the chiefs,
nor with passing over these horrible enormities with an
Anti-human ineffective protest. He summoned all the
sacrifice So- captains in the river and workers in the
ciety formed. mjsgjon_ They requested the king and
chiefs to meet them in the church palaver-house. This
combined and energetic action led to results long prayed
for. The king and chiefs agreed to pass a law that
human sacrifices should be abolished, and that life should
not be taken but for crime. Next day the friends of
humanity met, and formed themselves into a “ Society
for the Suppression of Human Sacrifices in Old Calabar.”
Thereafter they visited Creek Town, and made a similar
firm representation to Eyo and his chiefs, and intimated
that all intercourse should cease unless the law abolish-
ing sacrifices were passed within a month.
The 15th Eebruary 1850 must always be a red-letter
day in the calendar of Old Calabar. At four o’clock,
Law aboiishingwllen tllc law was Passed, the mission flag-
sacrifice was hoisted, the news was passed to the
passed. trading ships, on which flags were run up
and guns fired in honour of the day on which the right
of living was granted to the slaves.
39
fit tbe (pluck of tlje fright
It was not easy, however, to enforce the law in the
villages around the two principal towns. The chiefs of
Acliaho especially resisted the innovation,
Cameroon™ °f pleac^no that many of their old fathers and
mothers were scandalised by the change, and
that the law should not be enforced till they died off.
Eyo told them that these old people should have died
sooner; they should not have lived till the world
changed. But the chiefs were not convinced by such
logic. “ If you have no will for the new fashion,” said
Eyo, “ would you like to see a man-of-war go up your
river to make you will ? ” When they still expostulated,
Cameroons, a chief not without some humour, suggested
that, as the law would he put in force within a week,
they should not talk so much, but hurry home and
despatch their revered fathers and mothers at once, so
that they might enjoy the luxury of a burial after the
old fashion. This atrocity shocked them ; but Cameroons
added with force : “ Oh, very good, if you don’t like to
kill your own parents, why do you wish to kill those of
others ? ”
CHAPTER YI
FRESH STRUGGLES AND VICTORIES
During the next few years the mission made rapid
strides. Superstition after superstition began to fade
before the strong light of the gospel ; and at last, when
it was possible for converts to live in fidelity to Christ
amidst the social conditions of the country, converts
were granted, to the great joy of our missionaries.
The abolition of human sacrifices marked an epoch
in the history of Old Calabar. From that date life
_ . .. assumed a new value. It was soon found
Twin mothers
and twin- necessary, however, to follow up that victory
murder. with other struggles for the sanctity of
human life. One brutal custom had caused much
anxiety to the missionaries — that, namely, of expelling
twin-mothers from town, and of murdering the twins.
It was supposed that twins were monsters, who had no
limbs, that their bodily senses were not like those of
other children, and that to look on them or touch them
meant to become like them. No free man would take
a drink of water from such a monster mother. The fact
that twins were put to death at their very birth, and
consequently rarely ever seen by any one, helped to
foster the belief in their monstrosities. Even mothers
lost all their natural affection for their own offspring,
and willingly pleaded for their death, or murdered them
40
41
Jfrcsb struggles anb Victories
themselves, at the same time that they accepted their
own banishment as a just disgrace.
It was resolved to attack this barbarous usage with
vigorous and decided action. A native woman in Old
Town fled to the mission-house, and gave birth to twins.
She Avas almost distracted with shame, and pleaded to
be allowed to murder them. Mrs. Edgerley soothed her,
MRS. CRUICKSHANK. MISS HOGG.
TWIN-MOTHERS AND TWINS.
and tended the infants, and it Avas decided to stand by
them at all hazards. Old Willy Tom Robins AA'as in a
fury. Anansa, the god of the town, A\dio resided in the
Avell at the bottom of the hill, Avould destroy the toAArn.
Every evil was threatened ; but Mr. and Mrs. Edgerley
refused to give up the children. At last Willy bleAv
Egbo upon the mission, and retired to his farm.
The blowing of Egbo boycotted the school and
mission. But public opinion Avas already changing. It
Avas discovered that the times Avere ripe for this protest
42
StorjT of tljc fission in Dlir (Knlnlrav
against infanticide, and the prohibition was not respected.
The twins became the objects of wonder. They actually
had arms and legs like other children ! They cried like
others, and like others smiled ! Cameroons went from
Creek Town and saw them. Young Eyo visited them,
and even took them in his arms ! The school children
from Creek Town and Duke Town made pilgrimages
and presented offerings ; and the belief in the monstrosity
of twins was in this way shaken.
Soon after this a similar case occurred in Creek Town.
It was feared lest Eyo, whilst encouraging such a re-
form in the town of a neighbour, should shrink from
breaking the native custom in his own. To the relief
of the missionaries, provision was made by him for
the protection of mother and children, and Mrs. Waddell
and Miss Miller shielded and guided the poor woman in
the time of her distress. Such object-lessons in humane-
ness, for which the preaching had prepared the people,
did much to prepare the people for the further preaching
of the gospel of Jesus, which had so much to offer to
women and to little children.
The heathenism of Old Calabar was like the hydra
which Hercules was commissioned to kill ; so soon as
„ ^ one head of the monster was cut off, others
Substitu- .
tionary punish- appeared. It was not long till the subject
mont- of substitutionary punishment had to be
considered. By the custom of Old Calabar, when a
town offended against Egbo law, and was thereby judged
guilty of treason, it was no uncommon occurrence to
purchase a slave, and slay him publicly as a substitute
for the town that was doomed. It was also a common
practice to substitute a slave for a freeman when the
latter was condemned to death. A case of this kind
happened in 1849, and Mr. AVaddell at once took action
Jfrrslr Struggles mtb flrtorics
43
in behalf of the rights of slaves. A freeman had stolen
and sold one of the king’s slaves — a crime which,
according to Egbo law, is punished by death. But a
freeman may escape by substituting a slave to “ take his
death and die.” George Eyo, being a relative of the
thief, gave one of his slaves as a substitutionary victim.
The poor fellow was hurried along to execution, crying :
“ What have I done that my master sends me to die 1
He sends me to kill for nothing.” The poor fellow’s
head was knocked off and publicly exhibited in Creek
Town and Duke Town as a terror to evildoers.
Waddell’s opportunity came in a curious way. The
headless trunk of the victim was, according to custom,
left unburied at the place of execution, in the vicinity
of the mission premises. Mrs. Waddell demanded that
the victim should be buried. This she could only
accomplish by hiring men from George Eyo himself.
After the interment was over, George came to Mr.
Waddell, demanding payment for burying the slave
whom he had murdered ! Waddell paid him, and then
lectured him, whilst he sat cowed and dumb. Under
the lash of Waddell’s invective, the culprit’s conscience
received such a chastisement as might have made him
tremble to do the like again. Ultimately the vile law
was broken through, and practically annulled, and thus
another victory was secured.
But early in the year 1852 the mission cause at Duke
Town suffered a severe strain at the death of Archibong.
The work had never prospered so much here
Duke'Town*11 as Creek Town, for the reason that its
kings were less favourable to Christianity,
and had not the universal respect of the freemen of the
town. A meeting in the king’s yard in Duke Town
was not attended as a meeting in Eyo’s ; many of the
44
S'torn of tin $Htsstoit in #Ifr (ffnlnlnu;
chiefs felt that their dignity was compromised by going
to the house of a rival. Still, by the vigorous admini-
stration of Goldie and Anderson amidst many dis-
couragements, the work of preaching and teaching
soon began to tell.
Archibong kept by his superstitions to the end. His
mother, Obuma, was beside him during his last illness,
and stuck to her heathen superstition as
deathbed obstinately as Jezebel to Baal. When Mr.
Goldie visited him, the room was polluted
with sacrifices ; here a goat’s head, there a leg, yonder
another, and by his bedside a putrefying fowl, hanging
to a stick on which it had been suspended when alive,
as was the custom.
When the king died, of course human sacrifices were
forbidden ; but by other means many were sent into
eternity to accompany the king. Obuma
ifot and chop- aj. once set perse]f t0 discover the cause of
nut.
the king’s sickness. Four of the relatives
were charged with Ifot, which they curiously enough
termed “freemason in the belly.” They had bewitched
the king, and caused his death. These tvere at once
subjected to the ordeal, which was to chop-nut, or drink
the powdered esere-bean, on the supposition that, if
guilty, they would retain it and die ; if innocent, put it
up and live. All died.
Obuma, having determined to be revenged on some
of the leading families, summoned a number of armed
men from the plantation. Several batches
caught in their 0f women publicly drank the nut, and the
majority of them died. Then Obuma ac-
cused an old lady of the Ephraim family, who boldly
nominated Mr. Young to chop-nut with her. Mr.
Young, who had often made others chop-nut, notwith-
4frcslj struggles nnb Victories
45
standi* his faith in the doctrine that it could never
injure the innocent, quietly decamped to Creek Town.
His brother, who helped to slaughter fifteen of Eyamba’s
wives, exhibited the same discretion. But the climax
was reached when the blood-men whom Obuma had
called in from the country demanded that she herself
should chop-nut. The lady declined the trial, and,
believing they would compel her, laid a train to a large
number of barrels of gunpowder, determined to blow
up herself and the town if they made the attempt.
The N emesis was complete. The wicked were snared
in the pit which they themselves digged. Retribution
had visited the chiefs themselves, and their faith in
the trial by ordeal was broken when they found that
public opinion demanded that freemen should get the
same justice as slaves.
The early fifties were formative years in the history
of the mission. The policy of the Church in strange
and untried circumstances was being deter-
mined, and the Church was fortunate in
progress. J
having men so qualified for the task.
Waddell with his zeal and spirituality, Goldie with his
scholarly tastes and calm perseverance, Anderson with
his courage and dash, made a strong triumvirate, and
were excellently assisted by Edgerley, W. C. Thomson,
and Miss Miller. Signs of progress soon appeared.
When Eyo’s house was burned down, and property to
the value of some thousands of pounds destroyed, it was
a distinct victory to the cause of Christ that no one
was accused and no esere-nut employed to discover the
culprit, as would inevitably have been the case but
for the influence of the gospel upon the king. It was
also significant that one of the school children saved Eyo’s
Bible, as being among the most precious of his treasures.
46
Jbtorji of tin Ulissiou in GiMb Calabar
The activity in translating and printing continued
unabated. Mr. Goldie wrote several schoolbooks, Mr.
Anderson translated Jonah, Mr. Waddell wrote the Life
of Joseph. An epitome of New Testament history was
compiled, and these all entered the homes of the people
as silent missionaries.
But in 1853 the first sheaves of the harvest were
gathered from the three stations. The first convert,
Esien Esien Ukpabio, who became also our
first native teacher and our first native
converts.
pastor, was baptized publicly in the king’s
yard at Creek Town by Mr. Goldie on the 16tlr October.
Young Eyo, the king’s son, was baptized on the 30th ;
and on that day the native Church began its history by
these two converts sitting down at the Lord’s table.
At Duke Town, in the month following, two converts,
and two children who had been redeemed from slavery,
were baptized by Mr. Anderson ; and even in Old
Town, where “ Satan’s seat ” was, the heart of good Mr.
Edgerley was uplifted by the baptism of a youth called
Edungikan, who took the name of Joseph Edgerley.
Young men in all the stations were looking forward to
making a profession of their faith, and the hearts of
the missionaries, though cheered, were apprehensive,
not knowing how their converts might adjust their
lives to the social conditions under which they had
to live. The tyranny of custom was still the binding
force in society.
CHAPTER VII
IN CHRIST JESUS NEITHER BOND NOR FREE
The fortunes of the mission in Old Town had for a
long time been a cause of anxiety. Willy Tom was
Cruelties at wedded to his foul superstitions, and in his
Willy Tom’s last sickness displayed all the cunning and
' ~ . suspicion incidental to the savage. He put
his sons and chiefs in prison, and subjected many to
the ordeal of the esere-nut, on the charge of causing
his sickness by Ifot, or witchcraft. On his death, in
February 1854, his two eldest sons, five or six wives,
and a large number of slaves, were shot, hanged, or
poisoned, contrary to the law recently passed. Several
people fled to the mission as to a sanctuary, and were
rescued. One woman, who had been saved a year
before, when she was to have been presented as an
offering to Egbo by having her jaws cut open from ear
to ear, and by having other enormities perpetrated upon
her, was rescued once again, on the banks of the Quo
river, by Mr. Edgerley. She had had a ghastly ex-
perience. She had seen her husband shot and his head
cut off, had passed eighteen headless trunks in her
flight through the woods, and finally had had to swim
for her life.
In the midst of such trouble the work of Christ
could not prosper. Mr. Edgerley was laid down with
47
48
§ tor it of the $tlissicm nr CMh (falubar
fever, and delirious with excitement. Mrs. Edgerley
and Mr. Thomson fought against the horrid cruelties,
but in vain. All they could do was to report the
breach of the law to the Duke Town authorities, and
await results. Hot long after this a British gunboat
appeared upon the scene, and blew up the town for
breaking the law against human sacrifice, and forbade
the rebuilding of it.
But whilst these strange scenes, which we can only
touch upon, were being enacted at Old Town, Creek
Natives suffer- Town was passing through' a crisis of a
ing for the different kind. Five young men had been
gospel. baptized on the 5th of March, all of them
slaves of King Eyo. These young fellows, together
with the other converts, were subjected to much
persecution, and were called to account before the king
on the charge of disobedience. One of them had been
ordered to lace , or torture, a thief in order to extort a
confession from her, but had declined. Others had
refused to work upon the Sabbath. Eyo lectured them
hotly before a large audience, professed his interest in
the new religion, but was irritated and chagrined that
his slaves should be in Christ before him. The audience
soon took up the fight. Enau, one of the chiefs, on
hearing young Eyo declare that no one could do the
converts any real harm, shouted, “ What ! can I not do
what I like with such contemptible little slaves?”
“ No,” cried young Eyo. Then Nameti, one of the
newly baptized, added : “ Here I stand, and by the
grace of God I shall abide by my profession. Light
your fires and burn me if you like.” Another chief
cried to Esien, the king’s second son : “ Let these
fellows and young Eyo go over to the white men
— remain you on our side.” The reply of Esien was
|n (Christ festis neither ^3 onb nor Jfrce 49
noble. “What!” he said, “shall I see life and choose
death 1 ”
When some taunted Ukpabio and the others that
they were only slaves, this first of our converts replied :
“ True ; but surely you have heard of Joseph,
Ukpabio. , i J . _ _ , 1 ’
who was a slave m Egypt, as 1 am here
this day.” When Eyo ordered the sympathisers with
the new cause to leave his yard, he was surprised to see
that all his house boys, with the exception of one, rose
to go. “Ha! ha!” cried some of the chiefs, on observing
a big ignorant slave among them, “ what a fine God’s man
you’ll be, that can’t read a line ! ” “ But I can learn,”
said Efanga. Then Eyo came to himself, and interposed
with the words : “ It is not necessary that a man be able
to read in order to his being a God’s man ; people may
learn by hearing as well as by reading.”
Had Eyo been an ignorant man and unjust, his anger
might have driven some of these youths to death. They
had the martyr’s spirit ; he lacked the cruel spirit of the
persecutor. But although no blood was shed, the
noble stand which these few young Christians took gave
Christianity a firmer and higher position in Calabar.
That even Eyo respected them for their courage, is
witnessed by the fact that, not long after this, when he
was at one of his farms, he kept the Sabbath sacred,
and asked Ukpabio to read to him and his people the
word of God.
In the year 1854 no fewer than thirteen young men
and two young women were admitted into the fellow-
ship of the Church. Several of these were
converts. persons of good position and members of
influential families. Twenty -three others
were preparing for admission. But the position taken
by many of them excited opposition and hatred, for old
4
50
JSfotg of iljc Mission' iir (©lb Cnlubar
customs were being shaken and new habits were being
formed.
The relation of the Christian to the conditions of
Calabarese society had to be defined. And, seeing
gi e that freemen were now among the converts,
holders be the question was raised — Can slaveholders
Church be admitted into the fellowship of the
Church 1 The matter was keenly canvassed
and carefully weighed, in view of the future of the
native Church. Those freemen who had been admitted
had signed articles affecting their relations to their slaves,
so that the hands of the Church might be clean, but as
the question inevitably arose in each of the stations, a
deliverance was demanded.
The case was very complicated. Calabarese society
was divided into two classes — slaveholders and slaves.
There was not such a thing known as a free labouring
class. The slaveholders or freemen were about one to
every twenty slaves. Every owner had absolute power
over his slave, but it was considered disreputable to
sell a slave for anything but crime. To manumit a
slave was also unknown to Calabar law. Once a slave,
always a slave. Not only so, but, supposing a master
put away a worthless slave, he would still be held
responsible for every crime or misdeed the slave com-
mitted. This was property of which he could not
divest himself. It was rarely that an owner sold his
slave out of the country, and only for very serious
crime. The only way to get rid of superfluous slaves
was by death ; and this was not unfrequently resorted
to on very slender pretexts.
Under Calabarese law a free servant had no place.
Two kinds of law existed. There was Ecgbo law. Egbo
is a secret society or combination, initiation into which
fit Christ frsus neither §ouir nor Jpree 51
is purchased at a large cost (about £100), the members
of which form a kind of polyarchy. This society
passes and enforces the laws of the country. But Egbo
law is for the benefit of its own members only. If a
freeman who is not in Egho wishes his case considered,
he must hire an Egbo man at an exorbitant sum ; or, as
is frequently done, sell himself to some rich member,
whose protection he will thus secure.
The other form of law is patriarchal. The freeman is
absolute master of his household. Wife, children, slaves
may be disposed of as he likes. How, if a
Expedient;011 s^ave were set free, he would be under no
law. Egbo could not take account of him.
No master would be responsible for him. Emancipation,
then, meant to throw men and women upon society
without protection. In Calabar it would have been,
therefore, a great calamity for two reasons. First,
there was no opportunity for a liberated slave to hire his
labour and support himself ; and, secondly, he had no
rights to protection under any form of law. This being
the case, and the Church not being able at once to
change society and its customs, if members were to be
added to the Church, it was necessary to adjust the rela-
tions of the freeman to his slave in such a way as not
to injure the slave nor prevent the freeman from enjoy-
ing his inheritance in Christ.
For these reasons it was resolved to ask every owner
of slaves to sign the following declaration on being
Declaration admitted into the fellowship of the Church :
by Christian “ Believing that all men are equal in the
slaveowners. sj„p1^ 0f Q0qj and that, under the gospel,
there is in Christ Jesus neither bond nor free, I
hereby, as a servant of Christ, bound to obey the
commands of God’s word, promise, in the sight of the
52
Storjr of the pii'ssioit in ©lb (fa I nit nr
great God, my divine Master, that I shall regard those
persons placed under my care, and formerly held by me
as slaves, as servants and not as property ; that I shall
give them what is just and equal for their work ; that I
shall encourage them to obtain education for themselves
and their children, and to attend on such means of
religious instruction as the Church may be able to afford
them ; that I shall dispose of none of them for the mere
purposes of gain ; that I shall do so only in the case of
those who, being chargeable with criminal offences, would
be liable to be put to death were they to remain in
Calabar, and who can be legally banished in no other
way ; that I shall endeavour as far as I can to secure
the making of laws to promote personal freedom ; that,
as soon as it can be done, I shall legally set free all
those under my care ; and that, in the meantime, I shall
treat them with kindness and equity, it being my con-
stant aim to act upon the command of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to do unto others as I would wish them to do
unto me.”
CHAPTER VIII
FRESH FIELDS AND NEW WORKERS
Hew workers began now to appear upon tlie scene, and
new fields of labour to be broken up. In March 1854,
Mr. Alexander Sutherland joined the mission as a
teacher in Duke Town. In the following year he
married Miss Miller, and, after the British Government
gave permission to rebuild
Old Town, these two de-
voted souls undertook to re-
establish the cause of Christ
in that place. Mr. Suther-
land died a few months
after (April 1856), but Mrs.
Sutherland continued for
about seven years in Old
Town, preaching and teach-
ing and organising with
much energy and success,
till her transference to
Duke Town, with which
her memory is tenderly associated.
In 1855 there arrived Mr. John Wylie, teacher, who
remained but a year ; Dr. Hewan, a medical missionary,
who remained eleven years ; also Miss E. Johnstone and
Miss Barty. The work now went on apace, and was
MRS. SUTHERLAND.
54
Stovn of the UTissicm hr ®lb Calabar
again blessed witli a taste of persecution. This time it
was in Duke Town. In November, a son of
Duke Town11 Oko Odiong had died, and, as usual, friends
were suspected of Ifot, or witchcraft. A half-
brother, a half-sister, and an aunt were doomed to under-
go the ordeal of the esere-nut. They fled for safety to
the mission-house, and Mr. Anderson declined to give
them up. Duke Ephraim summoned hundreds of the
blood-men, and surrounded the mission. Anderson, how-
ever, would not be intimidated, and took means to transfer
the refugees to one of the ships in the river. Egbo was
blown on the mission, which cut off the mission from
all social intercourse, from marketing, and preaching.
The right of the mission to its property wms questioned,
and threats of destruction were freely uttered.
After much anxiety and hardship, Anderson sum-
moned the consul from Fernando Po, who adjudicated
upon the subject, and strongly condemned the ordeal.
The results of the consul’s interference were favourable
to the mission. The validity of the Church’s tenure
of the mission property was established; the mission
was no more to be put under the boycott of Egbo ;
and the premises were publicly advertised as a sanctuary
to refugees who were not guilty of any crime.
The time for extension had now arrived. After some
exploring, it was arranged to open a new station at
Ikoneto, a small town about twenty-five
miles up the river from Creek Town. This
was a delicate matter to arrange, on account of the
jealousy of the towns in which the mission already
existed. There was jealousy lest these up-river villages
should begin to trade with the white men after
learning to read and write, and a fear lest the missionary
should lead the way to white men who might wish to
Jrrsb <jfielbs mib |fcfco iKorkers
55
possess the land. Matters, however, were soon adjusted,
and Mr. and Mrs. Goldie, along with Miss E. Johnstone,
opened the station in July 1856. The success of the
work was almost immediate. Soon ninety children
attended school. The people, who were for the most part
engaged in farming, were attentive to the gospel, gave
up twin murder and human sacrifices, and showed more
tractableness of disposition than those further down the
river. A church was built of native material in 1857,
a year after the station was opened. The people began
to dress decently ; and so fond of long gowns did the
women become, that when it was found that some of
those of lower rank displayed them too ostentatiously of
a Sabbath, to the annoyance and chagrin of those of
higher rank who had none, a sumptuary law was passed
that none but ladies of the highest rank should wear
long gowns. The poor rvere condemned to short ones.
The arrival of the Rev. Zerub Baillie in 1856 did
much to brighten the prospects of the mission. His
knowledge of medicine, his buoyancy of
Zerub Baillie. ° ... " J ,
nature, and ins untiring zeal seemed to mark
him out for pioneering work up the river. Shortly
after his arrival, another of the first missionaries, the
Rev. Samuel Edgerley, senior, died, after a laborious
life of teaching, printing, and preaching. But other
labourers thrust in their sickles. Mr. Samuel Edgerley,
junior, and Mr. William Timson began to teach in
Creek Town, whilst Jamaica contributed another of its
best workers to Calabar, in the person of the Rev.
Alexander Robb of Goshen, who gave to Africa seventeen
years of fruitful service.
But another important change took place in the year
of Mr. Robb’s arrival (1858). After sixteen years of
arduous labour in Jamaica, and twelve years of piioneer
56
Utonr of f be Mlissiou in ©lb Calabar
work in Africa, the Rev. IT. M. Waddell was compelled
by the state of his health to withdraw from
retinBsadd611 Old Calabar. He was the founder of the
mission, and during these years, by his
statesmanlike sagacity and philanthropic purpose, he
shaped the destiny of our African mission at a time
when mission work in Africa was little known. His hook
on Twenty-nine Years in the West Indies and Central
Africa is a worthy monument of his indefatigable
labour — a brilliant and first-hand record of his interest-
ing experiences in Old Calabar, which will take its
place beside the works of Livingstone, Moffat, and
Stanley.
Mr. Waddell had the rare pleasure of seeing the
work of his hands established. The membership of
the church at Creek Town had increased to twenty-one,
with twenty-four catechumens. These were all bound
to him with filial affection, and on his departure sent
Avitli him a gift of ,£71 to the home Church, the first
contribution Avhich Calabar ever sent for the Lord’s
sake and for the Lord’s work. His converts and friends
bade him adieu at the steamer, from which Waddell
spoke his last Avords of farewell. “Koav Ave are off!
Farewell, Calabar ! We leave you AA'ithout shame for
the past, and without fear for the future. We thank
God that He counted us Avorthy to send us Avith His
gospel here, and that He sent us not in vain. To
His name be the glory ! ”
Mr. Goldie now took charge of Creek Town, and Mr.
Thomson of Ikoneto, whilst Mr. Zerub Baillie left Duke
Toavii and pressed on to found the neAV
ikorofiong. station at Ikordfiong. Here, at the close
of 1858, lie received a most gratifying reception from
the chiefs. A site Avas cheerfully given, on a hill over-
57
Jfrcslj <jfklbs mtb |jcto Workers
looking the town. It commanded a view of about
eight miles of the river, of a wide territory covered
with forest, and, in clear weather, of the blue
mountains in the far distance. The people at once
began to cut down the bush, to level the ground, to clear
a road to the town, and a road to the well, and showed
great eagerness to learn to read, as well as much
devoutness at times of worship.
Here Zerub Baillie laboured with rare energy, and was
joined by his brother John in 1861. Soon Ik'drdfiong
formed an important centre, from which the light
radiated upon the surrounding villages. The Baillies
plied upon the river with their boat, carrying the
gospel wherever they went, and establishing such
friendly relations with the natives, as did much to
smooth the path of the workers who succeeded them.
CHAPTER IX
AN INTERLUDE — GLIMPSES OF CALABARESE LIFE
When we speak of a king in Old Calabar, it is only
an accommodation of that august title. In the Egbo
fraternity he is only one of their high
officers. He is a convenient medium
through which to conduct the intercourse with
foreigners in trading. His election is to a large
extent influenced by
the traders. He, of
course, assumes
many of the innocent
airs of what he con-
siders royalty, and if
he be a good man his
power for good is
great.
The towns over
which the kings
preside are not
populous. Duke Town has about 6000 inhabitants,
and is the Glasgow of Old Calabar. Creek
Town is smaller, but it claims to be the
Edinburgh. The towns are miniature republics, bound
in a sort of rude federation by Egbo, which secures for
the freemen who are members of the fraternity more
58
EKPIII ABANA VILLAGE.
gin Jirterlubr — Glimpses of (fnlabarrst |Tife 59
than their freedom, and which, with, its mysteries and
inexorable cruelties, keeps the slaves in abeyance.
Family life is of the patriarchal order. The freeman
is absolute master of his household. His slaves are
“things,” or property; so too his wives,
Family life. an(j sons anc[ daughters. He finds it
difficult to keep his house in order, and hence resorts
to terror. Where marriage has taken place, dissolution
of marriage is easily obtained. Polygamy prevails, and
girls are gifted to influential friends, so that it is some-
times difficult for young men of humbler position to find
suitable wives. Involuntary spinsters are unknown.
The relation of slave and master is much mitigated
by custom. They are of the same race. Their children
play together and sit together at school. There is not
the hostility between white and black which exists,
for instance, in the West Indies. The slave may own
property, may even possess slaves and grow rich. He
is subject, however, to be called upon to work for his
master at the master’s pleasure. Sometimes he is treated
with great cruelty. Sand-papering the lips with a rough
leaf, used for polishing furniture, was the punishment of
one for speaking unadvisedly. A runaway woman was
compelled to run up and down the street for a whole
day. Those who harboured secrets had holes bored in
their ears with hot irons to make them divulge. Pepper
thrown into the eyes, cutting oft' one ear or both,
breaking legs, and binding arms with tight cords, were
some of the refinements of the punitive art in which the
savage mind displayed its marvellous ingenuity.
Other arts were not so assiduously cultivated. When
the missionaries introduced flowers into the mission
garden, they were laughed at for bringing more weeds
into Calabar, as if there were not already enough, and
60 Utorg of tin $jp$sicw in (SDIb Calabar
of sufficient variety. The Calabarese music consisted
of a low monotonous murmur or wail. Ex-
generai. pressions of joy could not be given by
voice ; but in the dance the feet atoned for
this defect. Their carving and pottery were of a very
rude description, but the women were somewhat adept
in decoration. They spent much time in ornamenting
with pleasing designs the banks of beaten earth which
formed the seats round the interior of their houses,
ihe art of dress was foreign to Calabar. Some savages
dress in the skins of animals, the Calabarese were
NATIVES.
content with their own. But when they learned from
us to clothe themselves, they far outstripped us in
variety of combination and colour. The vanity of
the men often exceeded that of the women, probably
because their opportunities of gratifying it were greater.
It was no uncommon thing to see a chief, arrayed in a
green satin hat, a waistcoat, a fathom of Manchester
cloth around him like a petticoat, and profuse bracelets
on his wrists, airing his grandeur barefooted under a
large coloured umbrella.
The natives are hospitable and courteous, seldom
insult a white man, and never lay hands of violence upon
§Ut Interlude — Glimpses of Calabnrcse |fife 61
Trades.
Peculiarities.
him. The kings give sumptuous dinners, and willingly
accept invitations in return. If they cannot
courtesy Presen^ they respect your hospitable feel-
ings by sending a slave for the dinner which
they were prevented from partaking of at your table.
The Calabarese are keen traders and good farmers.
They bring the palm oil from the interior, and dispose
of it to our traders, whose vessels lie in the
river opposite Duke Town, and whose
warehouses are now on the beach. They do not
display any liking for continuous labour at handicrafts,
though there are a few smiths and weavers. There are
no masons, because there are no stones.
They have no beasts of burden. The horse is known
as the white man’s cow. The goat supplies animal
food. There is little or no pasture land.
Mangrove trees line the river banks for
miles, as far as the tide flows. There are some
elevations, but no hills until you go far into the interior.
Every town has its farms, where yams, bananas, and
plantains are grown for food.
The religious ideas of the people are very crude.
They have a dim conception of a supreme Being, whom
they called Abasi. Their belief in spirits,
or shadows, is great, but the spirits are all
malevolent. Idems reside in trees, and in
the river, and sacrifices are made to them. In the corner
of the yard is a small mound of clay, called Iso Ekpo,
upon which the head of the household offers the goat or
the fowl as a sacrifice to the shadow of his ancestor.
The country is now under British protection, as the
Mger Coast Protectorate, and the resident consul, Sir
Claude MacDonald, displays much helpful sympathy
towards the mission.
Religious
ideas.
CHAPTER X
IN THE SHADOW
Mr. Waddell’s withdrawal from the mission marks
an epoch in its history. The clearing and quarrying
work had, to a large extent, been accom-
Quiet times. pqs}iec}; the lines of the building had been
determined, and the foundation laid. The quieter work
of building stone upon stone in the rearing of the
Calabarese Church had now to be undertaken. Many
of the grosser forms of superstition had received their
death-blow, and were dead or dying, and the general
principles of Christianity had been vindicated, amidst
scenes thrilling with incident. But these victories
had to be followed up and secured by the patient
routine of teaching, preaching, and evangelising, which,
although they may not yield so much material for the
pen of the chronicler, are not less important nor less
heroic.
A few months after Mr. Waddell’s departure, Eyo
Honesty died. He will always remain as a landmark
in the history of Calabar. He gave the first
Death of Eyo. W(qcome qie mission band, and, for the
most part, aided the mission till deatli withdrew him
from the scene. Although he never identified himself
with the cause which he did much to favour, yet by
his tact, prudence, common sense, and charitableness
62
|n the Sbabolu
63
he allowed Christianity to make for itself a place in
Creek Town which it has never lost. His sympathies
were with the truth. The Sabbath before his death he
was lying in his bed with Brown’s Bible before him,
diligently searching the Scriptures. Ever since the time
when he threatened to persecute the young Christians
he had given them full liberty; and so much did he
respect their conscience, that, if he wished to offer a
visitor a glass of rum, he would not call one of his
Christian attendants to serve, but one who had no
scruples.
When Eyo died, on 3rd December 1858, a striking
testimony was borne to the success of the mission.
There was not a drop of blood shed. Many of the
slaves took to flight ; but his Christian retainers
remained, and, without fear, performed the last offices
to the dead. His sons refrained from the old customs,
and declined even to take the Mbiam, or blood-oath,
which is resorted to for mutual safety, and took instead
of this, and to the satisfaction of all, an oath upon the
Bible. Only twelve years before this, the death of a
king would have implied the slaughter of hundreds.
Whilst Creek Town thus manifested the power of
Christ, Duke Town, which had not hitherto been
favoured with such regal wisdom, displayed
Duke°Town at a^so a gratifying advance. In September of
the same year a new church was opened,
which had been built entirely of native material, and at
the expense of the natives. The building was character-
ised by simplicity, its cost being only about £40 ; but
this first exercise in generosity argued that the gospel
had laid hold of the hearts of many who, a few years
before, were steeped in fear and superstition.
But the Duke Town authorities took a decided step
64
$tor» of the Ittission in O'' lb (T alabnr
Abolition of
Sabbath
market in
Duke Town.
Women’s
rights.
in advance when Arcliibong II. was elected king in
the following year. For a long- time the
Sabbath market had been a great hindrance
to the gospel. He - signalised his coronation
by abolishing it — an enactment which
cheered the missionaries and facilitated their work.
This, however, was the concession of a reform which
had been often urged, and with which the natives had
become familiar ; but as each native custom
was first encroached upon, the old-time
party winced and remonstrated. The 'right
of women to wear modest apparel was contested for
several years. Christian women, when they desired to
dress becomingly, were forbidden to put on gowns.
This sumptuary law, which had been passed by the
chiefs, was the result of feminine jealousy.. The
Christian women were generally slaves, and the wives
of the chiefs could not tolerate being outrun in the
race of fashion by their inferiors. But the Christian
women determined to defy the law, and did appear in
gowns. All the terrors of Egbo were “blown” upon
the transgressors, and severe penalties were threatened.
But the women still persisted, believing that the pro-
priety of their action would render it a violation of public
sentiment to punish them. After two years of conten-
tion, women were freed from compulsory semi-nakedness,
and won the right of clothing themselves according to
the dictates of modesty.
The death of Eyo Honesty, known as Eyo Honesty II.,
had occurred in December 1858. Two and a half yeal’s
afterwards, Eyo III. passed away. He was
long known as young Eyo, and had begun
his career with great promise. But the
temptations of his position were too great for him, and.
Death of
young Eyo
§it t be Sdja&ofo
65
he. became a backslider. Yet it is an indication of the
power the gospel had over him, that an enlightened
conscience brought him to repentance. Before he died,
he committed his children to the care of the mission-
aries, who had been the light and guide of bis happy
boyhood.
The tendency to fall back to heathenism spasmodically
asserted itself. The body of Eyo III. was laid in a large
box, filled with watches, plate, etc., and that box was
put into another, which was decorated with feathers,
ribbons, and looking-glasses. About two hundred women
moved around the boxes, wailing over them and fanning
them. Every newcomer threw herself down in the
mud, and cried Ete mi 0/(0 my father !)
But the occasion brought out in an interesting way
the influence which the gospel was exerting upon society
in Calabar. Although slavery was not
by slaves anded|^rec^y attacked by the missionaries, it
being in the warp and woof of Calabarese
society, yet the doctrine of the equal rights of man
began to tell. The farm slaves poured into the town,
and demanded that the ordeal should be applied to
the suspected. To make such a proposal was hitherto
regarded as the prerogative of freemen ; but the slaves
took the initiative, and singled out two, who on former
occasions had distinguished themselves by their cruelty.
These were Eg-bo Eyo, the king’s uncle, and Inyang, the
king’s half-sister.
The story of the trial, as told by Mr. Tintson, who was
then in charge, is of thrilling interest. Mr. Timson did
all he could to save the victims, but Yemesis had come
to the cruel. Egbo apparently knew he must die, for
he killed one of his wives before he left his home, that
she might be waiting for him in the land of shadows
5
GG ^torjr of tlj£ $$lission in (Dlb Calabar
One of his slaves suffered with him. The principal proof
of guilt lay in this slave’s confession, that Egbo and he
had put a spear into a pot, and called upon the spirit of
Eyo the king to enter that vessel ! The king had died
by witchcraft !
On the morning after Egbo suffered, Inyang was
accused. Her own sister Ansa called upon her to take
the bean, and was determined to hunt her to death.
The slaves gave no heed to Inyang’s remonstrances and
threats. At last she consented to take the esere-nut,
provided that all her share of her father’s property
would be buried with her, so that her sister Ansa might
not put a finger upon it. In a few hours she was a
corpse.
These proceedings at Creek Town had their influence
on Duke Town. The vested rights of murder were now
being attacked by the slaves themselves.
d^Ttowii11 Anderson had pointed the moral of the
Creek Town events — the slayer had been
slain. Archibong and his chiefs resented this, and
threatened Anderson with violence if lie would assert
that the killing of slaves was murder, and by way of
retaliation subjected several slaves to death by means of
the still legal processes of substitutionary punishment and
ordeal. But in spite of this Anderson held on his way,
assured that these cruel customs were doomed so soon
as the chiefs and freemen themselves had a taste of
their cruelty.
Meanwhile the work was being vigorously prosecuted
in the newer stations. Zerub Baillie was laying the
foundation of a strong church at Ikdrofiong,
and, with the assistance of his brother John,
was planting out-stations in the surrounding
Ibibio villages. Zerub and his wife, and John, so
The Baillies at
Ikorofiong.
67
|it % Sdjabofo
mission house, iko'rofiong.
own expense — a new
happily associated in their labours, had a pathetic
history. Their work here pro-
mised great results. The natives
were taught to make bricks ;
and in 1863 Zerub built a
house, and in 1864 a neat little
church, which became the
architectural wonder of the
neighbourhood. An Ibibio chief
at Oku, three or four miles
from Ikorofiong, built a church
of native construction at his
departure among the blacks, who usually do nothing for
nothing. On the first Sabbath of 1864, the mission
party, together with the first three converts, sat down
at the Lord’s table, and a church was thus founded.
But blow after blow fell upon this happy family. In
1862, Mrs. Baillie passed away. “ Look forward,” she
said to Zerub, “ and come on, and he sure and bring
Willie with you, and as many people as you can.”
When Zerub told her he could give her unreservedly to
God, she said, “ Thank you for these words : 1 am now
happy.” Her last message breathed the true love for
missions : “ Nothing would be more unjust than to
attribute my death to the climate.”
Willie, their little child, followed two weeks after.
John sickened, and came home, to die in Edinburgh in
Death Of John 1864> iu llis year. Zerub held on,
andzeruh and worked with great purpose till 1865,
Baillie. when he also returned from Old Calabar.
He had to be lifted out of the vessel at Liverpool, and
never reached his native Scotland. Friends hurried
to his bedside, for he was a loveable man and greatly
beloved. Dr. Hewan, a kindred spirit, who was home
68
~toni of the fission in @lb (fnlabar
to recruit after valiant service in the same field, came
from Paris to be with him.
Throwing his arms around
llewan’s neck, when he felt the
pangs of death getting hold upon
him, he cried, “ 0 doctor, doctor,
the last scene is now to be
finished between you and me.
0 Africa, Africa, I have wished
to spend and be spent for thee.
It is a big work there. You
know my plans. I told them to
you. You can tell them what
they are. Could you not go and carry them out? It
is a big work there — a big work.”
The work at Ikoneto and Old Town showed remark-
able signs of progress. At the former station, Mr.
,, Timson and Asuquo Ekanem, a native
land at old teacher, and afterwards an ordained minister,
Town. visited the farms in regular rotation, and
familiarised the native mind with gospel truths. At
the latter station, Mrs. Sutherland laboured with much
acceptance till 1863, when she was transferred to
Duke Town. Her successor, the Rev. S. PI. Edgerley,
was happy in witnessing the results of her years of
patient Christian instruction. Ekpenyong Etlm, the
king, died in 1864; but what a change from the time
when his predecessor, Willy Tom Robins, died ! Ho
blood was shed ; the blood-men, who wished to apply
the esere-nut to Et'im’s wives, were resisted by the
chiefs, and the usual accompaniments of death were
absent. There is no doubt that Etim was under the
influence of the truth. Hot long before his death he
refused to allow an Egbo celebration on the Sabbath ;
fit tbc Sljabofo
69
and when fined £60 for this insult to Egbo, he paid it
without in the least reflecting upon the mission, in
whose interest he made the sacrifice.
But the customs associated with death were gradually
undergoing change wherever the light was penetrating.
Women were snapping the links in the
Grievances chain of fashion which bound them. It
of widows.
was the unwritten law of the country that
the widows of chiefs should mourn until their husbands’
Ikpo, or devil-making, was celebrated. The husband
was supposed only to be sick till, these funeral cere-
monies were engaged in, and sometimes they were
delayed for a year, sometimes for two or three years.
During this time the widows were never allowed to
appear in public, nor to wash, and often suffered not
only from want of cleanliness, but from want of food.
Christianity was silently leavening society. These
women began to realise their grievances, and in 1868,
both at Duke Town and Creek Town, the widows began
to rebel, and some of them boldly broke through
Calabarese custom and washed themselves ! This asser-
tion of rights filled the towns with consternation, but in
Creek Town the reasonableness of their demand appealed
to one of the clans. In the Eyo clan orders were
given for the liberation of all widows, and immediately
there was a stampede of forty-one widows towards the
river, into which they plunged, and enjoyed the long-
denied luxury of a bath.
In this work of breaking up old customs there is no
doubt the perusal of the Scriptures was playing an
important part. Large portions had for
some time been in circulation among the
natives. In the year 1862 the Hew Testa-
ment was put through the press- by Mr. Goldie. Six
Influence of
the Bible.
70
of flje pbsbn hr #Ib Calabar
years afterwards, the results of eight years of toil were
produced in the printing of the
Old Testament, and the first part
of the Pilgrim's Progress, by the
Rev. Alexander Robb, D.D. He
conferred an inestimable blessing
upon Old Calabar by his scholarly
translations, for the printing of
the Bible in the language of a
people is the sending of many
missionaries to appeal to a people’s
heart.
But the shadows again came
over the mission. Broken health
compelled Dr. Hewan to resign in
1866, after eleven years of faithful
and energetic service, and Rev. W. C. Thomson quitted
the field in 1867, having spent eighteen
and death years of his life as teacher and preacher.
But the year 1870 brought the mission into
deeper shadow. After twelve years’ devoted labour, Mr.
Timson died of pleurisy, at Ikoneto, in June. In
August, Mr. Lewis expired at Old Town. His wife
and child, who went out to join him, arrived a few
days after his death, saw his grave, and returned. In
December, the Rev. John Granger, who had only been
a few months in the country, passed away at Ikoneto,
where he had filled the breach caused by the death
of Mr. Timson. These events cast a gloom over the
workers in Old Calabar, but the work went on; whether
men sleep or wake, the seed grows.
CHAPTER XI
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
The losses of 1870 created a crisis in the history of the
mission. The Church staggered under the repeated
blows. The lack of volunteers crippled the
The labourers worjc which had been so much blessed,
are few.
Men were wanted — everything was awaiting
them. A new house in Ikoneto had scarcely been
tenanted. That at Old Town was similarly circum-
stanced. One of the houses in Duke Town stood vacant.
The fields were ripe unto harvest, hearing the precious
fruits of seed sown by labourers whom sickness or death
had called away. Yet during ten years the home
Church had only furnished one ordained missionary,
one medical missionary, and two teachers. Whilst in
1864 there were eight ordained missionaries in the
field, there were now only four ; and these had all been
labouring for periods of between twelve and twenty-four
years — Mr. Goldie and Mr. Edgerley at Creek Town,
Mr. Anderson at Duke Town, and Dr. Robb at Ikorofiong.
These, with Mr. Lawson, who Avon the hearts of the
children at Ikorofiong, and Mr. Ashworth, who laboured
so devotedly at teaching and temperance work in Creek
Town, composed the male staff of European agents.
The consequence was that the burden of work pressed
too heavily upon the workers.
71
Ss tom of the Iflission in ©lit Calabar
Yet the work was not unblessed. Indeed, the
Calabar mission might be pointed to as one of the
triumphs of missionary enterprise. Cruel
great^768* superstitions had one by one disappeared
before the forces of Christian truth, the social
life of the people had been considerably elevated and
sweetened, whilst many had passed from death into life
through faith in Jesus Christ. The progress which
the mission had made within twenty-four years of its
existence was marvellous, considering the heathenism of
the people and the sufferings of the missionaries. There
were now five principal stations and fifteen out-stations,
with a membership of one hundred and ten. At four
stations over seven hundred people attended divine
service, and at two stations there were forty-five candi-
dates. There were twelve day schools and over four
hundred scholars.
In this work our European ladies took a noble share.
By their devotedness, courage, and physical endurance,
some of them left the stamp of their character upon the
native Church. The wives of the missionaries, and such
female teachers as Miss E. Johnstone, Mrs. Sutherland,
Mrs. Timson, Miss Edgerley, and Miss Diboll (afterwards
Mrs. Swan), lived a life of quiet and humble heroism,
performing ministrations which shall only find a record
in the book of life.
Another feature of the mission which was full of
promise was the extent to which native help was being
developed and utilised. There were in this year (1870)
fifteen agents at work. A few years before this, these
teachers were all either slaves or half-free, and steeped in
heathenism; but now their irreproachable and useful
lives were a daily testimony to their fellow-countrymen
of the power of Christ. Mr. Goldie could even at that
ITigbts mtb Sbabotos
73
time say that “ fully the half of the work of the mission
is now done by our native agents, at the cost of little
more than the salary of one European.”
Mr. Ashworth’s death on August 8, 1871, the first
anniversary of the death of Mr. Lewis, intensified the
crisis to which the recent losses had brought
Ashworth the band workers. I here is a touch ot
pathos in the thought of this ardent spirit
lying upon his deathbed singing himself into heaven.
Dr. Robertson tells us that his last song was, “ Who is
this that comes from Edom ? ” He reached the end of
the second verse —
“ Jesus now is strong to save,
Mighty to redeem the slave,”
when he raised himself, and exclaimed, “ 0 yes ! we
have a great Saviour ! Blessed Jesus ! ” Then his
voice joined another choir.
The recurrence of deatli in Old Calabar induced many
to consider the question of the selection of agents, and
of facilities for recruiting in cases of sickness.
Three answers were given. A Dr. J. W.
Healy, from America, undertook to overcome
the climatic difficulty, by educating in American colleges
eighty young men, negroes of the Southern States, to be
sent as missionaries to their brethren in Africa. This
brilliant idea dazzled the imagination and opened the
purses of the Church, but it soon vanished, leaving little
else than unpleasant recollections.
Another answer was proposed. The hardships of our
brethren in Old Calabar revealed the heroism latent
George Thom *n bosom of our Church, in the courage-
son’s sana- ous proposal of Mr. George Thomson, who
has given romance to the history of this
Mr. Thomson
The climatic
difficulty.
torium.
mission by his self-sacrifice and daring.
74
^torjr of the Pfcsion in (SMb Calabar
liad long cherished the hope that, at no great distance
from Old Calabar, a sanatorium might be formed, to
which our agents might repair for health and rest,
and have a chance of recruiting, without the long
journey home, which they naturally hesitated to under-
take except in cases of grave danger. Mr. Thomson,
who left his business as an architect in Glasgow, set out
for Old Calabar, swept along the coast, explored the rivers,
roamed through the country, ascended the mountains.
He believed he had found the object of his heroic
endeavours in the Cameroon mountains, and for several
years, with enthusiastic perseverance, he gave himself to
the furtherance of his philanthropic scheme. His efforts
for the regeneration of Africa were, however, frustrated
by the mysterious hand of death. In 1878 he passed
away. Though his dream was not realised, his unselfish
quest has given inspiration to many of Christ’s servants,
and his life has added a romantic chapter to the history
of the conquest of the Dark Continent.
But the careful observation of facts connected witli
the history of the mission suggested two tilings in the
line of the solution of the climatic difficulty.
First, that the principal agents should be
recruited as much as possible from brethren
who had been for some time resident in Jamaica ; and,
second, that instead of aiming at sending a half-educated
negro ministry from the West Indies, or from the
Southern States, a native Efik ministry should be reared
from the converts in Old Calabar.
Dr. Robb, who gave this matter much attention,
brought forward these suggestive facts —
statement of that there had been connected with the
facts. Calabar mission nineteen persons who had
previously been domiciled in the tropics, only three of
Third and
better
solution.
JTtgbts anb Hbabofas
75
whom had died ; and that of fifteen who came
direct from Europe, ten had died, the surviving five
being females. These facts are certainly startling ; but
the undetermined point is, how far the workers have
succumbed to climatic influences, and how far to the
strain of work which the Church has laid upon them,
by keeping the field constantly under-manned. The
probability is that residence in Old Calabar would not
prove so fatal, if each station were equipped, in such a
way as to render the amount of work expected suitable
to the exigencies of the climate. The Church should be
more generous in her provision, and less exacting in her
demands.
And again, from the fact that several native converts
were proving to be zealous and efficient teachers, it was
justly argued that, after a few years, this system of
employing Calabarese agents might be indefinitely
extended, and would prove preferable to the importation
from Jamaica of half-educated negroes, who did not
know the Efik language. This supposition has proved
correct, for now the native ministry is full of promise,
and not without signs of development.
The work at the various stations, though crippled,
was not without some cheering signs. In 1873, Mr.
Lawson (now minister in Edenshead), to
signs™12 his own regret and to the sorrow of
Ikorofiong, withdrew disabled from the
field, and returned home along with Dr. Robb, whose
health greatly needed recruiting. Ikorofiong was left
Without a European agent for about a year ; yet the
native agents and the six native converts Avere faithful,
and “ adorned the doctrine.” A severe epidemic of
smallpox broke out, and terror reigned throughout the
district. Miss E. Johnstone (sister of Mrs. Goldie),
76
Utoi'iT of the pission in ©lb ©nlnbai"
stepped fearlessly into the fever-stricken village, and
even defied the laws of Egbo, which augmented the
disease by forbidding the burial of the dead. After
teaching them how to vaccinate, and seeing the
epidemic decrease, she returned to Old Town, to die
a short time after (June 1873). Miss Mary Johnstone,
now the last remaining of three noble sisters, whose
names will ever be associated with the Christianisation
of Old Calabar, offered herself for service soon after,
and went out to help in the work of the Lord.
Other workers appeared upon the scene. Mr. Beedie
went with Dr. Robb to Ikorofibng, Mr. Thomas Campbell
went to Creek Town, Mr. Alexander
workers Morton to Duke Town, all as teachers.
Then, after the resignation of Dr. Robb and
the Rev. Dugald Campbell on account of ill health,
there arrived upon the field, in 1875, the Rev. Alexander
Ross and Mr. James Swan, and in 1876 Miss Slessor,
whose name has been and is so memorably associated
with the station at Okoyong, which she started in 1888.
A period of remarkable activity set in. The work of
exploration was vigorously taken up, with the hope of
extending the mission. Waddell, Goldie, Robb, and
especially Samuel H. Edgerley, had done much in ex-
ploring the surrounding country. Thomas W. Campbell
broke up the region around the Oban hills, the Quo
river, and the Calabar river. Mr. Ross with great
energy penetrated among the tribes in Efut. The hope
of occupying these places inspired the courage of the
brethren ; but though Ethiopia stretched out her hands,
the Church was not prepared to send out the messengers.
Death again visited the brethren. In 1879, Mr.
Alexander Morton passed away, after a career which
was brief but full of promise. He had been married
77
Rights au.br §babotos
only a few months to Miss Timson, who returned home,
leaving behind lier, awaiting the resurrection, her father
and mother, who sleep side by side at Ikoneto, and her
husband at Duke Town. That same year Mr. Thomas
W. Campbell resigned in broken health, and repaired to
Queensland, where he died shortly afterwards.
But the remaining workers were full of hope, and
received much encouragement from the progress which
took place in the church and in the social
pastor. condition of the people. The rearing of a
native ministry had long been before the
mind of the presbytery. The first ordination of a
native pastor took
place in 1872,
when E s i e n
Ukpabio, who was
the first convert
and the first native
teacher, became
the first native
minister of the
Efik church. On
July 5, 1879,
another native,
Asuquo Ekanem, was ordained in the new church, built
by the voluntary offerings of the people, which was
opened that same day in Creek Town.
This forward step of the Presbytery of Biafra gave
vitality to the native Church. It seemed to start upon
Proposal by a new era °f its history. The churches in
Presbytery Old Calabar then took into consideration
what they might do in relation to the native
agency, and they heartily agreed to aim at supporting
the native agency without seeking aid from the Church
CREEK TOWN CHURCH.
78
^torn of tlje Ulissioir in <§lb Calabar
at home. Such cheering news was welcomed at home,
not so much on account of the money it saved, hut
because of the promise which this assumption of re-
sponsibility indicated.
But perhaps the most signal proof of the influence of
the mission upon Old Calabar is to be seen in the
agreement which was drawn up between
^e°s°imonyPkmS Her Britannic Majesty’s consul, David
Hopkins, and the leading men of the
country, dated September 6, 1878. Consul Hopkins
acknowledged that such an agreement would have been
impossible but for the long-continued residence and
teaching of our missionaries. It shows how Christian
truth had, in thirty-four years, transformed the texture
of Calabarese society, and answers the question of the
ignorant caviller — “ Who will show us any good 1 ”
There are fifteen articles in the agreement, only
six of which we quote, as they are the notes of triumph
of our mission.
“Article 1. Twin Children and Twin Mothers. —
Whoever -wilfully takes the life of a twin child or
children shall be adjudged liable to the
penalty of death. Any persons wilfully
concealing any fact that may come to their
knowledge of the murder of twins, shall be considered
accessories of the fact, and shall be liable to such punish-
ment as the consul shall direct. Twin mothers in
future shall have full liberty to visit the town, and buy
and sell in the markets, the same as any other women
of the town, and they shall not be molested in any way.
“ Article 2. Human Sacrifices. — Any one wilfully
causing the death of another, by violent flogging or by
any other means, except in the case of a culprit sentenced
to death by the law, shall be considered guilty of
The agree-
ment.
Jagljts anb ^Ijabotos
79
murder, and shall suffer the penalty of death by hanging,
provided the king and his chiefs, with the consent of
the consul, find no extenuating circumstances which
would warrant mercy being extended,
i “ Article 3. Esere-Bean. — Any person administering
the esere-bean, whether the person taking it dies or not,
shall be considered guilty of murder, and shall suffer
death.
“ Article 4. — Any person taking the esere-bean
wilfully, either for the purpose of committing suicide, or
for the purpose of attempting to prove their innocence
of any crime of which they may have been accused,
shall be considered guilty of attempted murder, and
shall be fined as heavily as their circumstances will
permit, and shall be banished from the country.
“Article 5. Egbo Iqub, or the stripping of helpless
women in the public streets. — This abominable, dis-
graceful, and barbarous custom of allowing the young
men of the town to take an Egbo out, and seize, strip,
and indecently assault any woman wearing a dress or
cloth in the street, then exhibiting such dress or cloth
hung upon a pole, or the tree in front of the Egbo
palaver-house, being so disgusting and revolting, is now
and for ever abolished.
“ Article 6. Widows. — The custom of compelling
widows to remain in their houses, in filth and in
wretchedness, after the death of their husband, until
his devil-making is over (they having been sometimes
kept for seven years in this state of misery), is
abolished. The widows are to remain mourning for
one month after the death of their husbands, and
after that no further restraint will be put upon them.”
CHAPTER XII
FORWARD !
1881 and 1882 were years of trial to the mission. One
of our respected missionaries — the Rev. Alexander Ross
Deputation I-,uke Town — had assumed an attitude
to oid towards his brethren which rendered it
! ' necessary to send a deputation from the
home Church to investigate and settle the dispute. The
Rev. David Williamson of Queensferry, and the Rev.
David Marshall of East Calder, at the request of the
Foreign Mission I’oard, undertook the task, and set sail
on October 29, 1881.
On their arrival they found that the only remedy
to the dispute was that Mr. Ross should no longer
labour in that field. Unfortunately Mr. Ross did not
acquiesce in this decision, but left the mission and
started a rival church in Duke Town, which led to much
heartburning and no little confusion.
The visit of the deputies was greatly blessed, as it
cheered the native converts, and brought the native
Church into sympathetic contact with the Church at
home. King Eyo VII. and the other elders rendered
many kindnesses to the visitors, and received in return
much stimulus and encouragement in their work. The
Jforfoatb !
81
presence of Mr. Williamson and Mr. Marshall was
regarded as an epoch in the history of the mission.
But the mission was again put
under the cloud by the unex-
„ „r.„. pected death of Mr.
son dies at Williamson, at sea,
sea> on his way home
to Scotland. This friend of the
missionary cause, after fulfilling
his commission with character-
istic impartiality, went on board
in apparently good health, but
soon developed symptoms which
led to his death on January 30.
Shortly before this deputa-
tion arrived, there had fallen
in the service one
Death of Mrs. ,
Sutherland. whose name must
ever be held in
honour — Mrs. Sutherland. The
story of her life shows the
possibilities of quiet heroism
which thorough consecration to
Christ may develop in the midst of the most unpro-
mising circumstances. After thirty-two years’ labour,
characterised by homely piety, sound sense, and rare
enthusiasm for the cause of Christ, “ Mammy ” Suther-
land entered into her rest on October 19, 1881.
But the cause suffered by the death of another
lady— Mrs. Anderson, a woman of great energy and of
strong character, who with her husband
i^derson^8' ha<^ lived through the stormy scenes of the
early days, when the heathen raged and
imagined vain things. She, like Mrs. Sutherland, was
6
82
Stovjr of fbc UlissTon in #Ib Calabar
the friend of widows and orphans, and, as a native
woman said, “ she has saved many a head from being
cut off, and many an ear too.”
In little more than a year after Mrs. Anderson had
entered into her rest, the Rev. Samuel H. Edgerley
Avas called aAvay, in February 1883. For
Death of Mr. twenty years he had served as an ordained
missionary. He was the David Livingstone
of the missionary band. Possessed of great courage
and endurance, he explored many regions never visited
before by a European, and
always displayed that subtle
tact and Christian sympathy
which made him a rvelcome
visitor. His journals in con-
nection with his pioneering
tours are still living Avitli
interest to the student of
ethnology as well as to the
student of missions. What
lie did for Old Calabar in
preaching and teaching, in
exploring and building, in
dispensing and personal
pleading, is known only to the Master, in whose service
be spent himself without stint.
But new figures Avere appearing upon the mission
field. In 1881, Mr. Peebles, teacher, was settled at
Duke Town, and Mr. Alexander Cruick-
shank at Iktirofiong ; and in the following
year the staff Avas reinforced from Jamaica,
by the settlement of the Rev. Hopetoun Gillies Clerk
at Creek Town, and the Rev. E. W. Jarrett at Duke
Town. Artisan missionaries were represented by Mr.
REV. S. H. EDGERLEY.
More
labourers
cf orfoartr !
83
John Morrison and Mr. Carl Ludwig ; whilst Miss
M'Phun in 1882, Miss Hogg in 1884, and Mrs.
Lyall in 1885, filled the blanks among the female
workers.
Shortly before his death, Mr. Edgerley had strongly
urged the necessity of procuring a steamer of light
draught, which might be suitable for plying
Wilii'amscm ” uPon the uPPer reaches of the river. To
this appeal the children of the Church
gave a hearty response, by sending out the “ David
THE “ DAVID WILLIAMSON.”
Williamson.” The arrival of the steamer enabled the
missionaries to take advantage of the river-way, and to
penetrate to the “regions beyond.” Though many
journeys of exploration had been made inland, and
pressing requests for preachers and teachers had been
received from some of the tribes, yet the difficulty of
transit in a country in which there are no beasts of
burden, pointed to the rivers as the lines along which
extension was to be carried out.
To the waterway of the Cross river attention was
84
Sstovjr of tbc fission in ©lb Calabar
now definitely turned, and a period of great activity
set in. In 1885 the Eev. E. W. Jarrett
theSCrossUP opened Ikotana, a town on the left bank of
river, the river, over one hundred miles above
Duke Town, with about three hundred
inhabitants. He soon made an impression upon the
people. Six of the children of the town lived with
him, for the sake of the influence of a Christian home ;
one of the hoys, his interpreter, being able to speak
eight languages. In times of war Mr. Jarrett found
church and school emptied, yet he was taught not to be
discouraged. “ Had I known,” he said to one of the
natives on one of these occasions, “ they were not going
to come out better than that, I should have gone to
another town.” “If it had not been for the good word
you are always teaching us,” replied the man, “ you
would see our town filled with heads.” In view of the
harvest it is something to see the weeds destroyed,
though no grain has yet been gathered in.
Two years after this, the Eev. J. F. Gartshore pressed
up the river beyond Ikotana, and began work at
Ungwana. The work of a pioneer missionary
in Old Calabar is no easy task. For the
first six months, as Mr. Gartshore declared, he was
more a contractor than a missionary, more a backwoods-
man than a cleric. He built outhouses, children’s
rooms, store, dispensary, cut down the bush, made
roads, rooted up trees, healed the sick, taught school,
preached the gospel, and reduced the language of the
people to writing ! It is to be regretted that Mr.
Gartshore has been compelled, on account of ill-health,
to relinquish, after such short but brilliant service, a
sphere of labour which lay so much to his heart.
The companion of many of Mr. Gartshore’s journeys,
Jurfraubj!
85
the Rev. Janies Luke, with all the dash of an explorer,
with all the zeal, versatility, and tact of a
pioneer, settled in 1889 in the midst of a
large population midway between Ikotana and Ungwana,
at a village called Emuremura. Here he met with a
hearty reception from the
chief, Ebok, a mild and
gentlemanly native. Ebok at
once cleared out a native
house for Mr. Luke as a
temporary residence. Then
the work of building, road-
making, etc., began ; language
had to be conquered, and all
the manual labour and mental
worry which we impose upon
our upriver agents had to be
undergone. Why do we not
send an artisan with each
missionary who opens up new ground 1
Within eighteen months, spite of many indications of
dense ignorance and superstition, Mr. Luke was able to
point to signs of the dawn. Children Avere
Mr. Luke. 1 . ° . .
given him to be trained under Christian
influences ; chiefs came secretly, like N icodemus, to
inquire the way of life ; the common people gladly
heard a gospel which is destined to lead them into a
liberty not yet dreamt of by them ; and the chiefs and
slaves of one part of the toivn combined in subscribing
£6, 5s. to help in erecting a building to serve as church
and school. In this Avay Mr. Luke is preparing the Avay
of the Lord in Emuremura.
But another way is being prepared among these
native tribes — not the Avay of the Lord. “ As far into
86
SStorg of tbc fission in #lb Calabar
the interior as we have yet penetrated, we found the gin
bottle had preceded us is the testimony
gin °UrSe °f Mr. Goldie of Creek Town, whose life has
been spent in works of Christian philan-
thropy. From Ikorofiong we have the same testimony
from Mr. Cruickshank : “ Strong drink is a very great
hindrance to our work. A chief (not a Christian) said
to me the other day, ‘ If you would stop the drink
from coming to Calabar for one single year, you would
see what a difference there would he.’” The same cry
comes from Emuremura. “ I regret to write,” says Mr.
MR. M'KENZIE, MR. LUKE, EKOT THE TEACHER, AND NATIVES
OF UNGWANA.
Luke, “ that the Lord’s work is and will be much
hindered by the sale to the natives by British traders of
the accursed strong drink. If it were good, honest
stuff, we would still regret the natives coming under its
power ; but when it is the vile fluid called ‘ trade gin,’
which a trader would not allow his dog to touch, and
which rvrecks and ruins the ignorant, emotional negro,
no language can be too strong in protest.” So keenly,
indeed, have our Avorlrers in that field felt the inconsist-
ency and antagonism of the drink traffic, that the
Presbytery of Biafra made a statement and appeal to
Jforfoari) !
87
the Church on the subject, in which tire following
sentence occurs “ The Presbytery, brought face to
face with this curse, is convinced that to put an end to
it would do more for Christ’s cause in Africa than to
double the number of her missionaries.” It is deeply
to be regretted that the traders should pursue a policy
which is as shortsighted for their own interests as it is
debasing to the natives. The more the natives are
debauched and degraded with gin, the less labour can
they bestow upon cultivating and procuring the goods
in which they trade, and consequently the less are they
able to purchase from our markets. Were there a
quickened sense of the cruelty and injustice of this
trade on the part of the merchants who control
it, they would at once remove this great obstacle to
civilisation and Christianity from the shores of Africa,
and erase from our foreign trade one of its blackest
blots.
The latest events connected with the mission need
only be briefly touched upon, as they are still green in
the memory of the Church. Within the
Death again jas^ years death has again been busy
among our workers, and yet never were
there so many volunteers for this sphere of missionary
activity. In 1890, Mr. Jarrett passed away at Ikotana,
where he was succeeded by Mr. Porteous. In 1891, Mrs.
Lyall, after a few years of notable work, died at Edin-
burgh when home on furlough ; whilst in the same
year, Mrs. Goldie, whose life was synonymous with
patient perseverance in well-doing, rested from her
abundant labours in Creek Town.
In the following year the Church was shocked by
the news that the Eev. A. M. Porteous, who had only
gone out in 1889, had fallen a victim to fever. Stationed
88
§jtorg of tlje fission in ©lb Calabar
at Ikotana, lie had undertaken the superintendence
of Ungwana, from which Mr. Gartshore had
Porteous1* "withdrawn in broken health, and of Em-
ureniura, from which Mr. Luke had had
to retire for a short time, baffled by fever. The work
seems to have told upon his ardent temperament.
Fever struck him, and he had to flee to Ikordfiong,
sixty miles down the river, to
find help from Mr. Cruickshank.
The weary pathetic journey for
thirteen hours in the canoe, his
triumphant death, and his last
message, “ May they come, more
and more, and of the right
kind ! ” cannot be erased from
the memory of the Church. A
humble man, yet a profound
scholar, a saint, yet on his death-
bed crying, “ I am a poor vile
sinner, trusting in the blood
of Jesus”- — he has enriched
the Church by a beautiful life, from which, as
from a tree in blossom, the Church has inhaled a
fragrance by which she may be as greatly blessed as by
the plucking of much fruit.
But ere the first pangs of sorrow were past, the news
came that another servant had been called away. Dr.
William Rae, with his courageous wife, on
Dr. K-cie. m
hearing of Mr. Porteous’s death, at once
pressed up the river to the help of the native teachers,
who were left without European aid in the young
up-river stations. After two days’ journey he reached
Ikotana, where he examined the school, encouraged
the native teacher, and interviewed the chief. Next
liEV. A. M. PORTEOUS.
^ortorutr !
89
day he rowed up to Emureniura under the influence of
fever, and was assisted to the mission-house, where
two days afterwards he died
— a loveable man, who loved
much, and whose love of men
made his labour incessant but
full of joy.
New men and women, how-
ever, came forward to fill the
blanks, and to aug-
brelch.UPtlie ment tlie staff of
workers, among
others the Rev. John T. Dean,
the Rev. Ebenezer Deas, the
Rev. J. W. M‘Kenzie (who was
permitted to labour only a few months when summoned
by the Master), the Rev. George M ‘Donald, and the
Rev. William Marwick.
A promising feature of our later policy in connection
with Old Calabar is the development of the industrial
New depart- side of the mission. The Calabarese know
ure : Eduea- little of handicraft, and are almost entirely
tional and In-
dustrial insti- engaged as sort of middlemen between
tution. the traders and the tribes in the interior.
In this way they are too exclusively dependent upon
the foreigner for everything which requires skilled
labour. By creating and fostering native industries,
much would be done to civilise and elevate the
people, and to provide a means of support for many
of our converts. Already several artisans interested in
missionary work have gone out in connection with the
mission, but the latest movement of the Church is
calculated to place this department upon a more satis-
factory basis. It has been arranged to found an Educa-
90
Storg of the fSfesroit in @Ib Calabar
tional and Industrial Institution, somewhat on the
lines of those at Lovedale and Blythswood, and the
Foreign Mission Board has appointed as first missionary-
superintendent, the Rev. W. Risk Thomson, who has
been acclimatised by eight years’ service in Jamaica,
and whose career marks him out as eminently fitted
for this work, by his scholarly attainments, his
mechanical skill, his business ability and force of
character.
The outlook for Old Calabar was never so bright.
The work is breaking forth on the right hand and on
Look'ng back The workers are enthusiastic and
hopeful. Looking back over the history
of the mission since its commencement, less than fifty
years ago, we cannot but thank God for the changes
which His gospel has wrought. The abolition of
human sacrifices, of substitutionary punishment, of trial
by the esere-bean, and of twin murder ; the amelioration
in the lot of twin mothers and widows, and women in
general ; the respect created for the person of the slave ;
the destruction of cruel practices and degrading super-
stitions ; the creation of reverence for the Sabbath ; the
new hopes and ideals which have elevated the lives of
many hitherto in degrading darkness ; the sweetening of
society with Christian influences and aspirations; the
bringing of many souls into the presence and under the
power of the Redeemer — are among the blessings which
our Church has conferred upon that people by the
instrumentality, of the gospel of Christ. But there are
other results which cannot be valued nor tabulated —
those subtle and far-reaching social and spiritual con-
sequences, which, for the betterment of humanity, flow
like virtue from the garments of Christ, wherever His
blessed feet have trod. These are results felt by those
Jhrfoarb !
91
who have lived through the vicissitudes of the mission ;
felt, hut as evasive of tabulation as the change from a
stifling atmosphere into an atmosphere which braces
mind and body and gives rejuvenescence to the spirit.
The history of our mission in Old Calabar may be one of
suffering and heroism, but it is also a history of miracle
and triumph — a proof, on a grand scale, that the gospel
is “ the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believetli.”
“ PORTEODS-RAE.”
APPENDIX
1841. Sept.
1843. Jan.
1844. May.
,, Dee.
1845.
1846. April
,, May
„ J«iy
„ Aug.
,, Dec.
1846-47.
1847. Jan.
„ May
— ♦ —
I
ANNALS OF OLD CALABAR
Jamaica Presbytery resolves to begin mission work in
Central Africa.
Letter received from chiefs in Old Calabar, offering
ground for mission settlement.
Sanction given to proposal by United Secession
Synod.
Jamaica Presbytery appoints Rev. H. M. Waddell to
begin Old Calabar mission.
Students’ Missionary Society adopt mission to West
Africa as their first scheme.
10. Arrival of Rev. H. M. Waddell, Mr. and Mrs. Edger-
ley, Edward Miller, and others, in “ Warree,”
at Duke Town.
6. School opened at Duke Town.
26. First sermon preached at Creek Town by Rev. H. M.
Waddell.
21. First printed page (Bible lesson) in Efik published at
Old Calabar.
1. Death of E. Miller at Fernando Po.
Rev. H. M. Waddell visits Jamaica : his transference
from Scottish Missionary Society to United Seces-
sion Mission.
Arrival of Rev. William Jameson (Jamaica) at Duke
Town.
13. Union of Secession and Relief Churches : Old Calabar
mission adopted as mission of United Presbyterian
Church.
92
gtjjpwbb
93
1847. June.
Return of Rev. H. M. Waddell, and arrival of
Messrs. Hugh Goldie, Newhall, H. Hamilton, and
others, in “ Warree,” at Duke Town.
Aug. 1. First observance of Lord’s Supper at Duke Town.
,, Aug. 5.
1849.
„ Feb.
,, Aug.
Death of Rev. William Jameson at Creek Town.
Juvenile offering for mission ship (over £3180).
Arrival of Rev. William Anderson from Jamaica.
Arrival of Rev. H. M. Waddell, Mr. William C.
1850. Feb.
Thomson, teacher, Miss Miller, etc., in mission
ship “Jane.”
Human sacrifices for the dead abolished by law at
Duke Town and Creek Town.
,, April.
First marriage of Calabar natives according to
Christian custom at Creek Town.
,, Dec.
1851.
Abolition of Sabbath market at Creek Town.
Ordination of Mr. S. Edgerley, teacher, at Glasgow :
arrival in Old Calabar.
1853. Oct. 16. Baptism of Esien Esien Ukpabio, first convert at
Creek Town.
„ Oct. 30. Baptism of young Eyo, and first observance of Lord’s
Supper by natives at Creek Town.
,, Oct. 30. Baptism of Mary Taylor Anderson, first convert at
„ Nov. 6
Duke Town.
Baptism of Sarah Anderson and three children, and
first observance of Lord’s Supper by natives at
Duke Town.
,, Dec. 4.
. Baptism of Joseph Edgerley (Edungikan), first con-
vert at Old Town.
1854. Feb. 22. First marriage of natives according to Christian
custom, at Duke Town.
,, March. Arrival of Mr. Alexander Sutherland, teacher.
1855. Arrival of Mr. John Wylie, teacher.
„ Jan. 19. Bombardment and destruction of Old Town by
H.M.S. “ Antelope.”
Feb. 25. Opening of church at Duke Town.
„ Aug.
Arrival of Dr. Archibald Hewan and Misses E. John-
stone and M. Barty.
, , Sept. 9
1856. Jan.
. Opening of church at Creek Town.
Permission granted by British Government to rebuild
Old Town.
,, April 20. Death of Mr. A. Sutherland at Old Town.
,, June. Arrival of Rev. Zerub Baillie.
,, July. Opening of station at Ikoneto.
1857. March. ’Arrival of Mr. S. H. Edgerley, jni]., teacher.
94
^pptnbi*-
1857.
1858.
1859.
1861.
1862.
1863.
} 5
1864.
1865.
1866.
1868.
May 28.
May.
May.
Sept. 1.
Sept. 11.
Sept. 26.
Nov.
Dee. 3.
Aug.
July 21.
July.
Sept. 13.
July 24.
Nov. 24.
Dec. 27.
May 7.
Oct. 30.
Aug
Nov.
4.
1869.
1870.
1871.
1872.
1873.
April.
June 10.
Aug. 8.
Dec. 9.
Aug. 8.
April 9.
July.
Mar. 15.
June 5.
Deatli of Rev. S. Edgerley at Duke Town.
Arrival of Rev. Alexander Robb (Jamaica), and Mr.
William Timson, teacher.
Resignation of Rev. H. M. Waddell.
Ordination of Mr. William C. Thomson, teacher ;
settlement at Ikoneto.
First collection by native church.
Formation of Presbytery of Biafra.
Death of Mrs. Timson at Creek Town.
Death of Mrs. Thomson at Old Town.
Opening of station at Ikorofiong by Rev. Z. Baillie.
Death of King Eyo Honesty II. at Creek Town
Abolition of Sabbath market in Duke Town.
Abolition of substitutionary capital punishment at
Creek Town.
Baptism of Egbo Angwan, first convert at Ikoneto.
Arrival of Rev. John Baillie.
Death of Mrs. Z. Baillie at Ikorofiong.
Publication of Effk New Testament, translated by
Rev. H. Goldie.
Ordination of Mr. William Timson, teacher.
Ordination of Mr. Samuel H. Edgerley, teacher.
Baptism of first three converts at Ikorofiong.
Death of Rev. John Baillie at Edinburgh.
Opening of church at Ikorofiong.
Arrival of Mr. D. E. Lewis, teacher.
Death of Rev. Z. Baillie (Ikorofiong) at Liverpool.
Resignation of Dr. A. He wan.
Resignation of Rev. William C. Thomson.
Arrival of Dr. J. Robertson, medical missionary, and
Mr. J. Lawson.
Publication of Efik Old Testament and Pilgrim’s
Progress, translated by Dr. Robb.
Arrival of Mr. G. Ashworth, teacher.
Arrival of Rev. J. Granger.
Death of Rev. W. Timson at Ikoneto.
Death of Mr. Lewis at Creek Town.
Death of Rev. J. Granger at Ikoneto.
Death of Mr. G. Ashworth at Creek Town.
Ordination of Esien Esien Ukpabio at Creek Town.
Arrival of Rev. D. Campbell.
Abolition of Sabbath market at Duke Town.
Resignation of Mr. J. Lawson.
Death of Miss E. Johnstone at Creek Town.
gipptnbk
95
1873. Aug.
„ Sept. 21.
1874.
,, Sept. 27.
1875.
1876.
1878. Mar. 20.
1879. Jan. 3.
,, July 5.
1880. July 10.
1881.
,, Oct. 19.
1881-82.
1882. Jan. 26.
,, Jan. 30.
,, Sept.
,, Oct.
1883. Feb. 24.
1884. April 13.
1885.
Sept.
Arrival of Mr. R. Beedie, Mr. T. Campbell, and Mr.
A. S. Morton, teachers.
Opiening of church at Ikoneto.
Arrival of Miss M. Johnstone, teacher.
Settlement of Miss Diboll (afterwards Mrs. Swan).
Election of King Eyo Honesty VII. at Creek Town.
Death of Mrs. Edgerley. sen., at Creek Town.
Resignation of Dr. J. Robertson.
Resignation of Rev. Alexander Robb, D.D., and of
Rev. D. Campbell.
Arrival of Rev. A. Ross and of Mr. J. D. Swan,
teacher.
Arrival of Miss Slessor, teacher.
Ordination of Mr. R. M. Beedie.
Death of Mr. A. Morton at Duke Town.
Ordination of Asuquo Ekanem.
Death of Mr. T. Campbell at Bowen, Queensland.
Formation of congregation at Adiabo, under Rev. E.
E. Ukpabio.
Opening of church at Adiabo.
Arrival of Mr. W. S. Peebles and Mr. A. Cruick-
shank, teachers.
Death of Mrs. Sutherland at Duke Town.
Visit of Revs. David Williamson and David Marshall
to Old Calabar mission.
Deposition of Rev. Alexander Ross (Duke Town).
Death of Mrs. Anderson at Duke Town.
Death of Rev. David Williamson on return voyage
from Old Calabar.
Arrival of Rev. H. G. Clerk (from Jamaica).
Arrival of Rev. E. W. Jarrett (from Jamaica), Mr.
J. Morrison, artisan, and Miss E. M. M'Pliun,
teacher.
Death of Rev. S. H. Edgerley at Duke Town.
Arrival of Mr. C. Ludwig, artisan.
Resignation of Mr. J. Swan, teacher.
Ordination of Mr. Alexander Cruickshank.
Arrival of Miss Jessie F. Hogg, teacher.
Resignation of Mr. W. S. Peebles, teacher.
Arrival of river steamer “ David Williamson ” (pro-
vided by the children of the Church).
Arrival of Mrs. Lyall.
Opening of station at Ikiitana by Rev. E. W. Jarrett.
Arrival of Rev. James Luke.
96
1886.
1887.
1888. Aug.
„ Oct.
1889.
May.
Sept.
Old Calabar Female mission incorporated with the
Zenana mission.
Arrival of Miss I. W. Johnstone, Rev. J. F. Gart-
shore, and Mr. J. Bishop, printer and evangelist.
Resignation of Mr. Carl Ludwig.
Opening of station at Okoyong by Miss Slessor.
Opening of station at Ungwana by Rev. J. F,
Gartshore.
Resignation of Rev. H. G. Clerk, and marriage of Miss
M'Phun (Mrs. Beedie).
Arrival of Mr. Charles Ovens, artisan.
Opening of station at Emuremura by Rev. Jas. Luke.
Arrival of Miss M. Dunlop and Rev. A. M. Porteous,
B.D.
,, Retiral of Rev. William Anderson (Duke Town).
1890. Arrival of Mr. Charles W. Morrison, teacher, and
Miss Helen B. Hay (now Mrs. M'Donald).
., Mar. 30. Death of Rev. E. W. Jarrett at Ikotana.
., Resignation of Rev. J. F. Gartshore.
,, Oct. Arrival of William Rae, L.R.C.P. and S.E.
,, Mar. 28. Arrival of Miss Elizabeth J. Hutton (now Mrs.
Marwick).
1891. May 16. Death of Mrs. Lyall (Duke Town) at Edinburgh.
,, Aug. 20. Death of Mrs. Goldie at Creek Town.
Arrival of Rev. John T. Dean, M.A., and Mr. H. B.
Alexander, artisan.
1892. Jan. 26. Death of Rev. A. M. Porteous, B.D., at Ikorofiong.
Feb. Arrival of Mr. John Manson, artisan.
Feb. 22. Death of Dr. William Rae at Emuremura.
,, Mar. 16. Arrival of Rev. Ebenezer Deas.
,, Mar. 24. Death of King Eyo Honesty VII. at Creek Town.
,, May. 20. Arrival of Mr. Peter M‘Omish, artisan, and Dr.
Friederich A. W. Fischer.
,, Aug. 30. Arrival of Miss Agnes Stewart and Miss Chalmers
(Mrs. Dean).
,, Sept. 17. Arrival of Revs. Jas. W. M‘Kenzie, George M'Donald,
and William Marwick, and Miss Isabella M. Budge.
“ Porteous-Rae ” steam launch provided at cost of
£400.
,, Dec. 16. Death of Rev. James W. M'Kenzie at Ungwana.
1893. Jan. 5. Death of Mrs. Dean at Creek Town.
,, Feb. Mr. J. Murdoch Ross, artisan missionary, arrived.
, Resignation of Mr. C. W. Morrison, teacher.
,, May. 13. Death of Mr. J. Murdoch Ross at Ikorofiong.
^pptnto? 97
1893. May 20. Death of Mrs. Cruickshank at Ikorofiong.
,, July. Revs. Dr. Laws and W. Risk Thomson visit Old
Calabar in connection with proposed Industrial
Institution.
July. Appointment of George B. Thompson, L.R.C.P.S.
Edin. and Glasgow.
„ Aug. 11. Ordination of Rev. Itam Okpo It am at Ikoneto.
Sept. 5. Death of Mr. John Bishop, missionary printer.
• , 11. Arrival of Mr. W. T. Weir.
.. Oct. 11. Departure of Mrs. Rae (widow of Dr. Rae) for Old
Calabar.
Oct. Appointment of Mr. James Lindsay as missionary
engineer.
*, Nov. Appointment of Air. William A. Paton as missionary
printer.
^pjniiim
II
STATIONS AND AGENTS, 1894
o o
Missionaries.
ce rt
Native Agents.
r;CC
£ °
Creek Town
1846
Rev. IIogh Goldie.
., Wm. Marwick.
Eyo Ekanem, Aye
. Eyo Okon, Okpo
Mr. John M anson.
Jack, Esien Oku
Oboko.
,, Wm. A. Paton.
y
Duke Town
1846
Rev. William Anderson.
,, Robt. M. Beedie.
,, W. Risk Thomson.
,, J. T. Dean, M.A.
Dr. F. A. W. Fischer.
\ William Cobhaiu,
Mr. W. T. Weir.
1 James Ekanem.
,, Charles Ovens.
,, IT. B. Alexander.
,, Peter M‘Omish.
,, James Lindsay.
C Efiong Abiyak, Ak-
Ikorofiong .
1858
Rev. A. Cruickshank.
< pan Uti'p, Eyo
l Inyang.
Ikoneto
1856
Rev. Itam Okpo Itam.
Adiabo
1880
,, Esien E. Ukpabio.
Ikotana
1883
,, E. Deas.
Uwa Akpan Esien.
Ungwana .
1888
,, Geo. M ‘Donald.
Elcot Esien.
Emuremura
.1889
,, James Luke.
Okon Esien
.
Dr. Geo. B. Thompson.
Location not yet fixed.
^jjpcnbi*
99
Creek Town
Creek Town
Okoyong .
Duke Town
Duke Town
Duke Town
ikiirb firing .
Emuremura
J II
ZENANA MISSIONARIES
Miss M. Johnstone, appointed
Miss M. Dunlop . ,,
Miss M. M. Slessor
Miss M, W. Edgerley „
Miss A. Stewart .
Miss J. M. Budge
Miss J. F. Hogg .
Mrs. Rue
na7<s
18SD
ns7t>
*1854
1892
1892
*1883
1893
Placed on Zenana staff, 1888.
Church and Congregation. Meetings and Classes.
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Congregations.
OLD CALABAR.
Creek Town, . . .
Duke Town,
Ikoroflong,
Ikoneto
Adiabo, ....
Ikotana, ....
Ungwana, ....
Emuremura,
OLD CALABAR MISSION MAP
{, &> - VI
f*' SECTION OF SCOTLAND ON SAM E SCALE AS MISSION MAP
Xorujittcde, East of &reeny-%ch.
Tko XcLmtrargk Geo.g'r opine al Institute
John Bax-thalnragrw-& Co.
'
/T.TAT 18,
^Missions of the
U mted Presbyterian Church
THE STORY OF
OUR KAFFRARIAN MISSION
BY
WILLIAM J. SLOWAN
(Btiinlmrjjlj
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1894
PREFACE
— * —
This outline of Kaffrarian mission history does not
appear to call for any formal preface. But I am happy
to embrace the opportunity custom affords, to express
obligations to many writers on missions in South Africa,
from whose stores I have, perhaps too freely, drawn.
Among works which have been specially helpful I
would name Chalmers’ Life of the Rev. Tiyo Soga,
Calderwood’s Caffres and Caffre Missions, Carlyle’s
South African Mission Fields, and Macdonald’s Light
in Africa.
I am also much indebted to Mr. Robert Young,
F.R.G.S.E., the Rev. Dr. ffm. Anderson Soga, and
other friends, who have been good enough to revise my
proofs; and to Mr. John D. Sinclair, B.D., for per-
mission to use as illustrations some of his South
African photographs. The preparation of this story
has vividly recalled a visit to Ivaffraria in company
with the Synod Deputies of 1883. The overflowing
kindness and hospitality then received, and the impres-
sion gained of missionary trials, devotion, and success,
will not soon be forgotten. ~W. J. S.
Glasgow , 1st Mag 1894.
CONTENTS
♦
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE ATTRACTION OF AFRICA 9
II. THE FIELD AND THE PEOPLE 17
III. YEARS OF WAR AND MISSIONARY TRIAL, 1821
TO 1856 26
IV. YEARS OF RECONSTRUCTION, 1857 TO 1878 . . 47
V. YEARS OF PROSPERITY AND EXPANSION, 1879 TO
1894 64
VI. THE PRESBYTERY OF ADELAIDE .... 91
VII. AFTER THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY. . . 97
VIII. THE CALL TO GO FORWARD 108
APPENDIX.
I. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE KAFFRARIAN MISSION 113
II. STATIONS AND AGENTS, 1893 118
III. PERSONAL STATISTICS OF THE MISSION . . . 119
7
.
'
THE STORY OF OUR KAFFRA1UAN
MISSION
CHAPTER I
THE ATTRACTION OF AFRICA
Africa and its people early made an irresistible appeal
to the missionary sympathies of the fathers of our
Church. It was not the loveliness of situation that
drew their first efforts to Jamaica, but the love and pity
that burned in their hearts towards the enslaved sons of
Africa, whose wrongs and miseries marred the beauty of
the Pearl of the Antilles, and sullied the flag that waved
above it. It was indeed on their way to Calabar that
our first missionaries sailed for Kingston. A thousand
leagues are only as a handbreadth in His purposes, with
whom a thousand years are but as one day.
Nor can we doubt the providential guidance in the
choice of South Africa for the direct attack on the
unknown continent that followed. The missionary
societies, which at the beginning of the century with
one consent made their way to the Cape, had no thought
of Central Africa as a place of broad rivers and streams,
of boundless fertility and teeming population ; but again
our fathers built more wisely than they knew. After a
9
10 ®Ijc Storji of our Jiaffrariai* mttssicm
period of some doubt the wisdom of their choice has been
amply vindicated. With the Great Sahara and the more
hopeless desert of Mohammedanism, barring access
from the North, a climate deadly to Europeans levying
heavy toll on the approaches from east and west,
South Africa, taking the term in its larger sense as
•embracing the region between the Cape and the Zambesi,
is now recognised as the true base of the missionary
advance, which will one day join our KafFrarian Churches
with their brethren round the Central Lakes, and in
that Old Calabar whose name is cut deep into the heart
of our Church.
The Approach through Cape Colony
We cannot sketch here, save in the barest outline, the
history of Cape Colony, with whose fortunes the story
Th p ^ of our Mission has mingled for three quarters
gueseand of a century. Discovered in 1486 by Bar-
Dutch, i486- tliolomew Diaz, the Cape was claimed for
1795. x
Portugal by Yasco di Gama in 1497, and
remained in the nominal possession of that country till
1652, when the Dutch, who for half a century had cast
covetous eyes on this valuable “ house of call,” on their
way to and from India, landed their first party of
settlers. By degrees they gained the upper hand,
extended the boundaries of the colony, and dispos-
sessed or enslaved the natives, to whom they gave the
meaningless name of Hottentots. In 1685 eight suc-
cessive companies of Drench Huguenots, driven out of
their own country by the Eevocation of the Edict of
Nantes, settled on the coast at Paarl and Stellenbosch,
introducing at once the cultivation of the vine, and an
element of French sweetness and brightness into the
11
(Tbe Attraction of
stern and self-contained community, an element still
distinctly traceable.
A new stage was reached in 1795, when, at the
request of the Prince of Orange, a British fleet put down
a revolution against the colonial authorities,
Commg of the anq established a British Protectorate. By
the Treaty of Amiens the Cape was restored
to Holland ; hut on the renewal of the European war,
England, in January, 1806, again obtained possession of
the colony, which was formally ceded to her in 1815 :
the area included being some 120,000 square miles,
with a total poprrlation of 61,500.
CAPE TOWN.
The Cape has proved one of the most difficult if not
disappointing of the colonial problems with which Britain
has had to deal. She was met at the out-
prohiem^ set w^h the question of the native races,
those already subjugated and .those pressing
hard upon the young colony — a question, after four-
score years, still persistent and troublesome. Perplexing
enough in itself, it has been complicated by distance
12 ®Ijt ^torg of mtr Jlaffraraut Ipssiou
from the seat of imperial authority, by vacillating
counsels, which, with the best intentions, have often
courted disappointment and failure, and by the divided
feeling in the colony, due to the presence of a foreign
and unfriendly element imbued with ideas in regard to
the treatment of the natives inconsistent with more
modern and more generous convictions of the rights of
man.
The native question has been not unnaturally involved
from the beginning with the missionary question.
The native has always found a friend in the
Natives and missionary, who in turn has always been
regarded with suspicion, if not dislike, by a
considerable section of the colonists, whether Dutch or
English. The Dutch took high ground with the natives.
Their rule in general was of a hard “ paternal ” order,
under which even the free subject had little liberty.
Life was embittered and restricted by needless and harsh
regulations ; and, having little freedom themselves, the
colonists seemed determined to give none at all to those
whom they regarded as members of an inferior race.
The authority devolved on individuals through the
weakness of the central Government was cruelly abused :
not justice but vengeance too often animating an ad-
ministration which included in one person complainant
and judge, legislator and executioner.
Not that the Hottentots greatly benefited at first by
the change to British rule. Regulations intended for
their protection wrought so unfairly that
tots Hotten~ only at the mission stations was any man-
hood left in them. By and by the scarcity
of labour, and the hope of conciliating the Boers, whom
nothing would satisfy short of the old power of life and
death over the coloured population, led to an arbitrary
13
®be ^Utraxtion of Africa
apprenticeship of Hottentot children. In 1811, on the
complaint of the missionaries, a number of Boers were
brought to trial for gross cruelty to their servants ; and,
for the first time in the history of South Africa, Euro-
peans, to the indignation of a large section of the com-
munity, were punished for assaults on natives. But it
was not till 1827, again as the result of missionary
representations led by Dr. Philip, that the famous
Fiftieth Ordinance in Council was issued, with the
consent both of the home and colonial Governments,
which placed all free persons of colour on the same
footing as Europeans.
Hot content with the service of the natives whom
they found at the Cape, the Dutch had imported Malays
from the East Indies — still prominent at
S01- Cape Town, in their characteristic and
gorgeous dress — and negroes from the Guinea
Coast, to serve as slaves. But the last of such cargoes
was landed in 1807, and in the following year the
infamous trade was prohibited. In 1833 came the total
abolition of slavery in the British dominions ; and the ten
thousand slaves of the colony obtained their freedom at a
stroke. The Boers had been sorely tried by previous
limitations of their liberty, but this was more than
could be borne. Numbers sought licence for themselves
and slavery for their dependants beyond the limits of
British rule • and the first steps were taken which
eventually led to the formation of the Orange Free
State and the Republic of the Transvaal, and to much
heartburning and bloodshed.
Turning for a moment to events yet more directly
affecting our mission, it may be noted that while still
under Dutch rule the colony had so far extended that
the Gamtoos River, the old dividing line between the
14
(FIk Utorg of our Jiaffrarimv fission
Hottentot and tire Kaffir, was no longer accepted as
First contact its Eastern boundary. In 1740 the colon-
with the Kat- ists had for the first time crossed . swords
fiis, 1740. with the Kaffirs, and forty years after-
wards had pushed as far east as to the Great Fish
River. This river, running across the colony in a south-
■ easterly course, from the Zuur Berg to the Indian
Ocean, was till 1818 recognised ■ as the limit of neutral
ground between the British possessions and Kaffirland.
OX WAGGON.
On the threshold of the new century the colony
found itself involved in the first of the long series of
Kaffir Avars which, during tAvo generations,
warfaffil devastated its eastern province, and led
ultimately, through blood and tears, to the
extension of British territories up to the northern
boundary of Natal. The brief narrative of these Avars
which is all Ave can give, may be more fitly Avoven
into the subsequent narrative. Nor is it needful to
15
®lje Attraction of Afr’ua
attempt to judge between the contending parties.
There are always two to a quarrel — usually, if not
always, two to blame. The Government and colonists
on one side, and the Kaffirs on the other, alike con-
tributed to the disastrous issue. The Government was
stubborn when it would have been politic to yield :
conciliatory, when it would have been wise to stand
firm. The Cape authorities willingly joined the Govern-
ment in recognising the equal rights of all men,
white or coloured, and framed such laws as were
fitted to do justice to all. But though every Dutchman
was not a slave-driver, nor every Englishman a filibuster,
too many of both nationalities forgot their manhood and
their duty when dealing with the natives. On the other
hand, the Kaffir cannot be freed from blame on the ground
that he fought only for the protection or restoration
of his own territories. As Mr. Calderwood points out,
three of the bloodiest wars occurred during a period
of thirty-two years, 1819-1851, in which no land
whatever rvas taken from him. The Kaffir, like the
Christian, is often an aggravating neighbour, contact
with whom makes love less easy than it may seem
to those who survey the beginnings of strife from afar.
A man of war from his youth up, his chief and loved
employ is to feast and fight. Ko wonder that the
proximity of the settlers’ flocks and herds was often
too much for his honesty. Cattle are his current coin,
his very wives are bought with kine — why should he
not take who had the power 1
The truth is, when civilised and uncivilised men thus
meet face to face, war is sure to follow. Some trivial
misdeed, some error in judgment, and the combatants
leap at each other’s throats with equal courage, some-
times with equal cruelty; thousands suffer who have
10 ®be S’torji; of our Jtafframiu passion
done no wrong, and, in the end, tlie contending parties,
exhausted but unreconciled, are left under the old
conditions, sure to lead again to the old results. One
point comes out bright and clear through all the sad story
— no war was caused directly or indirectly by the
presence of the missionaries : they were ever the
peace-makers, never the peace-breakers, through all
those dreary years.
The year 1820 was marked by the arrival of five
thousand selected “British settlers,” who
i820SettlerS °f Pourec^ ir|to the Eastern Province a stream
of new life and energy. We cannot refer
particularly to subsequent colonial advances — the gain of
a free press, with which the name of Thomas Pringle, who
suffered in the cause, will be ever honourably identified ;
the introduction of representative government ; the
organisation of a system of education ; the doubtful
blessing of the discovery of the diamond fields ; or the
vast enlargement of territory and population.
We are glad to believe that the suspicion with
which missions and missionaries were once regarded in
this mixed community is gradually giving place to the
respect fairly earned by what they have done, not only
for the native races but for the best interests of the
colony itself, during these three quarters of a century.
CHAPTER II
THE FIELD AND THE PEOPLE
w hat is now the main field of our mission may be roughly
described as a territory 230 miles long by 120 broad,
A o di land s^re*:c^^nS from the .Great Kei River to the
border of Natal, and rising in a series of
magnificent natural terraces from the shores of the
Indian Ocean to the snowy heights of the Stormberg
and Drakenberg. It forms part of one of the fairest
and most fertile regions in South Africa — a goodly land
beautified by a varied and brilliant flora in which the
crimson of the flowery aloe, the gold of the acacia, the
scarlet of the Kaffir baum, are blended with the strange
forms of the euphorbia and cactus, and enriched with
fruits alike of the temperate and torrid zones. It is a
land of broad valleys and luxuriant pastures, whose soil
is capable of growing all manner of cereals, in whose
mountain gorges the forests clap their hands and the
wild beast finds its lair ; a land intersected by many
rivers, which for a few months, to the despair of the
traveller, pour down impetuous floods, and, to the
despair of the tiller of the soil, lie dry and dormant
during the rest of the year. The area is about half
that of Scotland ; the climate healthy, though with a
considerable range of temperature.
Our Church is represented in South Africa by
IS Oc §torjr of our Jlaffnmait Jflissioit
thirteen stations and congregations, which stretch from
Somerset East, on the Little Fish River, to Gillespie, in
the far north of the Transkei. These now form two
presbyteries. That of “ Adelaide,” which includes the
church in the town so named, with those of Somerset
East, Glenthorn, and Tarkastad ; and that of “ Kaffraria,”
in which are grouped the purely mission charges — .
Emgwali, Paterson, Tutura, Columba, Malan, Miller,
SOUTn AFRICAN SCENERY.
Buchanan, Mount Frere, and Gillespie. The Emgwali
station, on the borderland between the two presby-
teries, extends a hand to each, and claims them as
one in missionary desire and purpose.
Kaffraria is mainly peopled by one of the finest of
the primitive races, numbering within the limits of the
Transkei not quite half a million souls.
The name Kaffir, or infidel, was imposed
by the Arabs in contempt of a people who preferred
®be Jxelb aitb % pfoplf
19
heathenism to Mohammedanism. Their origin is not
so easily determined. The pedigree of the tribes with
which we are most familiar is traced to one Zuide, avIio
is supposed to have flourished in the year 1500, and
to have been the father of three sons, Tembu, from whom
come the royal Tembus ; Xosa, the progenitor of
the Galekas, and, in the second generation, of the
Gaikas, the two families being known as the Amaxosa,
of whom Kreli, as the representative of the elder
branch, was, till his death in 1892, chief -paramount ;
and Mpondo, represented by the Pondos, who are still
ruled by their own chiefs under a British protectorate.
We find the Kaffir in a country which did not
originally belong to him. Pressing down through the
heart of a continent in which the tide of empire has
flowed, not from east to west but from north to south,
he has crowded out or driven out the Hottentot, as the
Hottentot before him expelled the Bushman. The
Kaffirs would appear to have had no lengthened tenure
of their present habitat. Mr. Carlyle places the arrival
of the Amaxosa not earlier than 1670, leaving their
previous story to be determined by internal evidence,
or by the historian’s familiar friend, conjecture. Their
northern origin can, however, scarcely be doubted, and
the writer who refers to “ the sources of the Kile as
the cradle of the race,” is probably as correct in his
supposition as he is mistaken in his metaphor. All the
traditions point in this direction. The Basutu hut,
shaped round in compliment to the sun, finds its
counterpart in Abyssinia ; the spear and sword carried
in battle by the Kaffir brave, and the very steps with
which he dances at full moon are depicted on Egyptian
tombs. Some characteristics, such as circumcision, the
law of the widow, the distinction between clean and
20
®l)£ ^toqr of- our Jlaffrarimt $pssioit
unclean, abstinence from tlio use of blood as food, have
been thought to point to a Semitic origin, but the
supposition has now been abandoned.
The Bantu language spoken — with tribal modifica-
tions— by all the Kaffirs, like other African tongues to
which it is probably akin, would seem to
guage lan" shaP^$t f°r finer uses than those of a
barbarous people. Experts describe it as
extremely harmonious and regular, philosophic in
structure and full of melody, with a delicate and
involved mechanism capable of expressing every shade of
meaning. In the conjugation of the verb, which is highly
inflected, having two hundred and fifty different forms,
a resemblance is traced to the tongues in which Abraham
spoke and Homer sang ; while the alliterative structure
of the language is said to be almost without a parallel.
Such a mother-tongue gives a race a patent of nobility,
telling of a long-forgotten culture, or of an innate
refinement with which the modern Kaffir is not always
credited. The “ clicks ” which first arrest attention did
not originally belong to the language. It was the
Bosjesman and the Hottentot who fixed this hook in
the jaws of their Kaffir invader, that for all time out
of his own mouth might be recorded and condemned
the loss of home and country they suffered at his hands.
Physically the Kaffirs are a fine race, muscular and
well proportioned, their height averaging from five feet
nine inches to five feet eleven inches or six
a noble feet. A German investigator makes the
savage.
average height of the Kaffir 1'718 metres,
of the Scot P710, of the Englishman P708. The
hair grows in tufts, and the head, like the negro’s,
is long from back to front, but, unlike his, is also
vertically long. The complexion is not black, but
STIjr Jfirlb anb the people
21
A TIED KAFFIR.
like polished mahogany. Mark him as he strides across
the “ veldt,” untrammelled by ungainly western garb,
with his scarlet blanket or skin kaross falling in graceful
folds from his broad shoulders, disdainful of any
bronze. From his lavish use of red ochre clay as a
protection from insects, he is usually described as the
red Kaffir — the bodies both of men and women shining
22
®bc Storg of mrr Jiaffrarimt |Kb$roiT
burden save liis long round-headed staff or knob-kerry,
— a formidable weapon enough in case of need, — and
you acknowledge in him a different style of man from
the furtive Bushman or the gentle Hottentot. The
Kaffir is semi-nomadic, with the wandering foot of
a son of the wilderness. The government of the
tribes, which has been handed down from generation
to generation, is a patriarchal monarchy, controlled and
regulated by a powerful aristocracy of councillors. The
people are born lawyers. They have the true instinct
of government, knowing both how to obey and how to
command. There is not a man in whom the spirit
of patriotism does not burn, or who is not loyal to his
chief and tribe. For his chief he will steal, or lie, or
submit to the greatest humiliation. In the war of 1877,
when the Galekas were reduced to such straits that in
their hunger they were eating the bark of trees, the
British Government offered £1000, or five hundred cattle,
for the apprehension of their chief, Kreli. But the
Kaffirs preferred death to dishonour, and scorned the
tempting bribe. Brave in presence of danger and death
as Britain has found him to her cost, the Kaffir is not an
ungenerous foe, and has even been known, it is said,
to leave a few cattle after a foray, lest lie should deal
too hardly with his enemies. He has the savage virtues
of hospitality and honesty, with a natural politeness
and courtesy worthy of all imitation. Food is almost
common property, and a trust is rarely if ever betrayed.
A keen observer 1 puts the Kaffir in many respects
next to the white man, though he denies him the love
1 The Rev. Henry Calderwood, for many years a missionary of
the London Missionary Society, and subsequently Civil Commis-
sioner for the district of Victoria, in the Eastern Province of Cape
Colony.
®|je Jar lb nub tbe people 23
of truth, which is, or is supposed to be, the white
man’s most prominent characteristic. Possibly the
Kaffir talks too easily to talk always with strict accuracy.
Indeed, he lies and is not ashamed — not even when
he is found out. The very children whom he loves he
trains in cunning and deceit.
Entitled in some respects to rank among the noble
KAFFIR WOMAN AND CHILD.
24 ®Iu ^torjr cf our Jlaffnmnn $Strssicru
races of the world, the Kaffir is sunk in superstition.
A noble savage, he is but a savage at
side <iaiker the best. We see it in his treatment of
woman. He is a polygamist whose wives,
bought with cattle, are really, if not legally, the husband’s
chattels and drudges, doomed to “a dreary life of domestic
slavery and thankless toil.” His daughters who may
remain unmarried are in a still more pitiable case. But
for the toils of the women the land would have little
cultivation. The lord and master is an idle man, whose
chief employments in time of peace are “ palaver ” and
the milking of the cows, which latter service he happily
thinks too honourable to be entrusted to women. His
recreations, in which he shows abundant activity, are
dancing, the hunt, the fight, drinking, and worse things.
“ The Kaffir hut,” says Tiyo Soga, “ is a hotbed of
iniquity.” “Among the coast tribes,” says Macdonald,
“chastity can hardly be said to exist. Every wife of
a polygamist has her lover.” Over this animal life a
traditional system of superstition, cruelty, and oppres-
sion casts its dark shadow. The warrior who will face a
host trembles at the cry of an owl, and is the slave of the
witch-doctor. The twilight of his windowless dwelling
is but an emblem of the grosser gloom, intellectual and
moral, that surrounds him. He breathes an atmosphere
of suspicion and jealousy in which freedom cannot live.
At the caprice of a chief or the envy of a neighbour he
is liable to the miseries of a Kaffir “smelling out,” to
false accusation, confiscation, and murder. Cruel torture
is not uncommon in the free life of the wilderness.
Originality and progress are impossible under such con-
ditions. A bright fellow is apt to be dubbed a wizard,
and wizards are apt to die young : better then a wooden
mediocrity and the survival of the commonplace.
25
{the Jpelb airb tbr people
Tlie Kaffir’s religion is a mixture of magic, mystery,
and ancestral worship. He has apparently no sense
of sin, no thought that links the state of
the soul after death with conduct during
no nope. °
life, no expectation of a resurrection from
the dead. He has little if any conception of God, and
to be without God is to be without hope. His present
life is sketched in the first chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans ; the past is a tradition, the future all unknown
KRELl’s WITCH-DOCTOR.
CHAPTER III
YEARS OF WAR AND MISSIONARY TRIAL,
1821-1856
Ten years before the arrival of our pioneer missionaries,
the colony hacl found itself involved in its first Kaffir
War. The Kaffirs were the aggressors,
mi-wr? WaF’ ^ie Gaikas of the Zuurveld, ignoring the
boundary which had been fixed with their
consent, crossed the Great Fish River, occupied the
neutral territory, and raided the settlers’ cattle. It was
determined not only to drive them back, but, irre-
spective of an agreement apparently made with their
chief, Gaika, whose name now appears for the first time
in our story, to occupy the whole Zuurveld with white
settlers. This might possibly have been done without
bloodshed ; but some one blundered, and war to the
knife and without quarter followed, till the Kaffirs
were finally driven beyond the river.
In 1817 the colonial governor, Lord Charles Somerset,
under the impression that Gaika was chief-paramount
of the Amaxosa, had made a new treaty
War^i8i9^ with him, by which any Kaffir kraal harbour-
ing stolen cattle was to be held responsible
for the theft. By and by strange cattle were traced to
the kraal of the real chief, Ndlambe, who repudiated
responsibility, but was stripped by the search party of
26
tSKnr aub pissicrttsrg Crial, 1821-1856
27
all they could lay hands on. In revenge lie attacked
the Gaikas, and utterly routed them. The Government
thinking it dutiful to come to the help of their new ally,
seized some twenty-three thousand head of cattle. But
after a brief interval the defeated Kaffirs swept suddenly
down on the colony in force, under a prophet-chief,
Makanna, attacked Grahamstown, April 22, 1819, and
were only driven back and broken when every available
colonist had been called into the field. As the result
of this second war the country between Koonap Kat and
the Great Fish Biver had been added to the colony, and
the region up to the Keiskamma declared to be neutral
ground. Such was the position when our first mission-
aries arrived.
The mission took its rise in the Glasgow Missionary
Society, whose formation on the 9th February 1796
The Glasgow was one of the earliest indications that
Missionary Scotland had caught the new missionary
enthusiasm which marked the dawn of the
nineteenth century. Undenominational in its consti-
tution, both branches of our Church, Secession and
Belief, were well represented in its management and
membership. The story told in the yellow pages
and faded ink of the old folio minute-books is not
wholly a happy one. The first attempts in the untried
field of foreign missions were only a succession of dis-
appointments, and the Society’s semi-jubilee year had
well-nigh proved its last. A resolution to attempt work
among the Kaffir tribes of South Africa saved it from
this catastrophe. While it was thus preparing for work
in Africa, a valuable agent, all unknown to himself and
to the directors, had been preparing for its service.
William Thomson, son of the teacher of Tarbolton, after
a couple of sessions at the University of Glasgow, had
2S
gTIjt Storjj of our Jinffrnrinu ^fission
forsaken liis studies, and thrown himself into business
life in London. Here a sermon preached by the famous
Alexander Fletcher, on the death of the missionary
Yanderkemp, proved the turning-point of his life.
He resohv 1 ud give himself to mission work in Africa,
returned to Glasgow, and having completed His studies,
was ordained on 23rd June 1821, and at once accepted
by the Glasgow Missionary Society as its first mission-
ary to the Kaffirs.
Accompanied by Mr. John Bennie as catechist, Mr.
Thomson sailed for the Cape in the following April, and
before the year closed the two pioneer
The Chumie. ... ■ £,
missionaries were welcomed to the Chunne
by the Rev. John Brownlee, of the London Missionary
Society. After the death of the venerated Yander-
kemp, on 15th December 1811, a Mr. Williams, sent
out by the London Missionary Society, was located on
the Kat River, near Fort Beaufort, but died after two
years’ earnest service. Some of the first converts
baptized at the Chumie are said to have been among the
fruits of his ministry. Mr. Brownlee, who followed
him in 1820, well continued the missionary succession
among the Gaikas, and lias left a name still fragrant
in South Africa. The settlement lie founded had
been sanctioned as a special favour by the Colonial
Government, no other missionary being permitted at
the time to enter Kaffraria. It is described by the late
Rev. J. A. Chalmers, himself a son of the Chumie, as,
in the heyday of its prosperity, a South African paradise,
with its white cottages and octagon church nestling
under the skirts of the Amatola Mountains, whose rocks
and forest supplied a bold background to the softer
charms of field and orchard and garden. A mountain
stream — fit emblem of the living waters that welled
SStar anb Ulissionarj) £rial, 1821-1856
29
forth from the humble sanctuary on its banks — added
to the beauty and fertility of the station.
Ere long a serious illness compelled Mr. Brownlee to
seek rest and change. After his recovery he resumed
his closer connection with the London Missionary Society,
and, returning no more to the Clminie, began a station
on the Buffalo River, on the site of the present King
William’s Town.
On 16th December 1823 our little band of mission-
aries were gladdened by the arrival of the Rev. John
Ross — father to be of sons who should in-
New arrivals. . .
hent not only his name but his missionary
enthusiasm and capability. He was the first to intro-
duce the printing-press into the service of the mission.
So eager were the brethren to avail themselves of this
auxiliary that three days after his arrival fifty copies of
the alphabet were thrown off, to be followed shortly by
the Lord’s Prayer, a vocabulary, Brown’s Catechism,
and some of the hymns translated into Kaffir by Mr.
Bennie, the early poet of the mission.
In 1824 the two ministers, with Mr. Bennie as ruling
elder, formed themselves into the first Presbytery of
South Africa. In this year, too, Mr. Ross and Mr.
Bennie broke ground in the JSTcera Valley, giving to the
new station the name of Lovedale, in honour of the
Rev. Dr. John Love, of Anderston, secretary of the
Glasgow Missionary Society. When in 1835 this
station was removed to a more favourable site, it carried
with it this good name, and ultimately grew into the
most important missionary institution in the colony.
There is little of importance to note till in 1827 we
come to a name which during two generations was to
be closely identified with the mission, and with our
Church’s interest in it. In that year Mr. William
30
(IT lie islorg of out Jiaffrarimt fission
Chalmers, of Glasgow, accompanied by his wife and two
artisan missionaries, Mr. Janies Weir and Mr. Alexander
M'Diarmid, arrived at the Chumie. All three proved
themselves men of mark, and did worthily for Africa.
In 1830 Mr. Thomson became minister of the Dutch
Reformed Church in the newly-settled district of
Balfour on the Kat River, where, in the words of
his friend, Mr. Robert Young, of Edinburgh, “he
laboured with untiring energy and success till 1868,
continuing to bring forth fruit in old age, till in 1891
The First
Chalmers.
he entered into the joy of his Lord.”
After having worked for a time at Lovedale and
Burnshill Mr. Chalmers, who received ordination in
1834, was left in sole charge of the Chumie
station. The mantle of Brownlee sat well
on the shoulders of the missionary through
whom runs the line of our apostolic succession in
South Africa. His days were a perpetual round of
teaching and preaching; church and school under his
wise direction going hand in hand in the good old
Scottish fashion. The little sanctuary was girdled
round with “ kraal ” schools, one named the “ Mitchell,”
another the “ Struthers,” after well-known Glasgow
divines who “ rocked the cradle of the infant mission,”
and whose people provided the £ s. d. (£10 per annum)
needed to furnish the young Kaffirs with their A B C.
It was on the rude benches of “ Struthers ” school that
a Kaffir lad, Tiyo, one of the many sons of Soga, a
Gaika councillor, learned his English letters, and began
a course which led him by swift stages to Lovedale, to
Glasgow University and our Theological Hall, to ordina-
tion as a missionary to his countrymen, to a quiet grave
at Tutura, and to a memory which our Church will not
willingly let die.
Mar anit Ulissiomug dT rial, 1821-1856
31
Peace, though always a troubled peace, reigned from
1820 till 1834, when a third and yet more sanguinary
war broke out. It had been smouldering
i834TiUrd War’f°r years. The Kaffir relations with the
new settlers were on the whole of a more
friendly nature than had subsisted between them and
their former neighbours the Boers — but encroachments
KAFFIR WOMEN WITH BASKETS.
on both sides, privileges given and withdrawn, indul-
gence alternating with severity, thefts followed by
punishment, made it evident that the marches must soon
be “ redd ” again, and with blood.
Macomo, a son of Gaika, had been allowed to settle
on the Kat Kiver, within colonial limits ; but, proving
a troublesome neighbour, had been ejected in 1829.
32
®ljc ^torjr of our Jiaffrariait Utission
Proudly withdrawing to the country near tlie Chuniie,
lie nursed his wrath and waited his opportunity. On
the death of his father, and in consequence of the
infancy of Sandilli, the heir to the chieftainship, Macomo
(whose daughter afterwards taught in the London
Missionary Society Institution for Girls at Peelton),
became regent of the tribe. The spark for which both
parties seemed to wait was struck when another brother
of Macomo’s was killed while resisting a Commando
reprisal party ; and on December 22, 1834, ten thousand
fighting men spread themselves over the whole country,
pillaging and burning the farmhouses, murdering all who
resisted, and carrying off all the booty on which they could
lay hands. Only the missionaries were left untouched.
Speedy punishment followed. Hintza, the chief-
paramount of the Galekas from beyond the Kei, was
defeated and slain ; the Fingoes, of whom we shall hear
more, were, to the number of sixteen thousand, settled
in the Gaika country, at Pedclie, on the eastern bank of
the great Fish River, and the lands west of the Kei
were declared to be a British province, though, through
the conciliatory policy of Lord Glenelg, they were after-
wards restored for a time.
In 1837 war broke out nearer home. The Voluntary
Controversy sundered the parent missionary society
into two camps, one of which, retaining the
The Voluntary Q--naj name adhered to the Established
Controversy. °
Church of Scotland, while our ecclesiastical
fathers, under the title of the Glasgow African Mission-
ary Society, assumed the direction of the two missionaries
of the Relief Church — William Chalmers of Chumie,
and young Robert Niven, who, after ordination in the
Tron Church of Glasgow, had in 1836 opened a station
on the Igquibigha River.
<®at ani> Pbsionatj) ©rial, 1821-1856 33
The division was an amicable one — each missionary
being encouraged to make choice of the section to which
he would adhere, and to continue to work in harmony
with his brethren. There were now two standards ; but
both followed the cloudy and the fiery pillar which
still went before them through the Kaffir wilderness ;
and though they are not yet openly one again, it becomes
year by year more difficult and more needless to keep
them apart.
Messrs. Ross, Bennie, Weir, and M ‘I) i arm id remained
with the Establishment, till in 1843 they cast in
their lot with the Free Church of Scotland. Lovedale,
and the other stations which had been under their care,
passed beyond the control of our Church, though not
beyond its sympathies. Mr. Bennie, who had been
ordained in 1831, continued in the mission till 1850,
when, on account of ill health, he accepted a call to a
mixed congregation of Kaffirs and Hottentots at Middle-
burg. Mr. MTDiarmid, after working with Mr. Ross at
Balfour and Pirie, was in 1852 ordained as missionary
in charge of Macfarlan, the principal out-station of
Lovedale. Good Mr. Weir, most lovable of men,
survived as an octogenarian to regale the Synod’s
deputies in 1883, with stories of the good old times
when a Kaffir would do more for a button than he will
noAV do for a pound, and to warm their hearts with a
missionary enthusiasm burning only the brighter after
the service of more than half a century.
Twelve years followed of quiet plodding work. The
Church’s interest in its mission grew; and the ladies of
. Glasgow began those generous efforts which
yuiet years.
have done so much, and continue to do so
much for the Christian education and training of Kaffir
girls. In 1840 another missionary, the Rev. J. F.
3
34 ®bc JStorg of our Jlaffrarimi pissioir
Cumming, still happily with us after more than a jubilee
of service, was settled at Glenthorn • and Miss M'Laren
began work at Igquibigha, where she taught till 1845.
Early difficulties had been surmounted, the language
was being acquired, three principal stations and two out-
stations were occupied, modest churches and manses had
been built, converts were being brought in, the confidence
of the people had been gained, and all gave promise of
more fruitful years, rvlien suddenly, in 1846, the theft
of an axe by one of Sandilli’s men caused war to flame
up again and desolate all Kaffirland.
It had been long in preparation. The colonists were
worn out with the continued depredations of the Kaffirs ;
the Kaffirs were irritated by the sight of
the Axe' 1846 their fathers’ lands melting away before the
assumptions of the white men. It was in
the month of March 1846 that the historic axe was
stolen by an old Kaffir of Tola’s tribe. He was on his
way to Grahanrstown under escort, manacled to a
Hottentot prisoner, when the party was attacked by
armed Kaffirs, who in their haste to free their man cut
off the Hottentot’s arm and left him to bleed to death.
Tola refused to give up the thief, and Sandilli, now
chief of the Gaikas, taking his part, war was declared,
31st March 1846, and raged during eleven bitter years.
The missionaries were warned into the protection
of Fort Armstrong on the Ivat River. Mr. Niven
was at home on furlough, — doing good work in stirring
up the Churches, — but the Chalmers family, husband,
wife, and eight children, made their way to the fort
with nothing but the clothes they wore and a few
blankets and mattresses. The military fort was over-
crowded, and for eight months they lived outside the
defences in a small cottage, roughly strengthened by the
35
tar anb JfHssionarn (Trial, 1821-1856
soldiers. Lovedale was broken up and its pupils were
scattered, Tiyo Soga, wlio was one of them, taking
shelter with his mother, Nosutu, among the missionary
refugees. The Chumie Mission was totally destroyed,
the church and manse, with its precious library, were
burned to ashes, the types of its printing-press turned
into bullets, and the Bibles into wads for the guns of the
Dutch boers, the book of life becoming thus a messenger
of death. The one bright tint in the picture is supplied
by the Christian fidelity of the converts, their orderly and
peacefid behaviour, and their courage in standing by their
teachers. It was indeed the missionaries who suffered
most. ISTot of the war, they were in the heart of it, and
had not only to endure hunger and peril in their rough
shelter, but to bear the hatred of both the contending
parties, especially of the colonists.
It was a year before the missionaries and their
converts received permission to return to their homes.
But homes they had none. The Chumie was
Chalmers. a desolation; and Mr. Chalmers was m-
debted to the kindly hospitality of Mr. John
Pringle — another of the old border Secession family —
for shelter for his wife and children. He himself could
not rest at Glenthorn, while his beloved station lay in
ruins, and after brief absence he set out, with his eldest
son, to rebuild its waste places. But the strong man’s
heart was broken, his strength gone. For a time he
and the lad toiled at the ruin by day, and slept at night
in a blanket beneath the shelter of a blackened wall ;
but dysentery set in, and, racked with pain, he regained
the shelter of Glenthorn only to die. On the 8th
February 1847, with the words of the twenty-third
Psalm sounding on his ear, he passed into “the
house of the Lord for ever.” His bones rest at the
36
JMorg of our Jiaffrarimt fission
Clnunic which he loved, and where he laboured for
twenty years, till he died an old man at forty-five.
While war still threatened all around, Mr. Cumming,
with the quiet fidelity to duty and indifference to
personal danger which have marked him through life,
took charge of the little flock that lingered in the
neighbourhood of the Chumie, conducted their worship
within the Avails of the roofless church, and broke to
them the sacramental bread.
At the close of the war the uncertain frontier vvas
rectified once more. The colony Avas extended to the
Orange River on the north, and to the Keiskamma on
the east, from the sea to the junction of the Chumie
River, and along that stream to its source ; Avliile British
sovereignty Avas proclaimed from the Keiskamma to the
Kei — the region betAveen being named British Kaffraria,
and reserved for the occupancy of the Kaffirs.
A gratifying testimony to the character of the Kaf-
frarian missionaries, and to the value of the Avork, Avas
„ borne by the authorities at the close of this
Maitland’s Avar. In a Government notice inviting
testimony. them to return to their posts, the High
Commissioner intimate's that the lands to which their
stations are attached will be held direct from the Queen ;
and that “ every facility will be given and every aid
afforded to the missionaries, conducive to the great object
in vieAv, namely, conversion to Christianity and civilisa-
tion ” ; and “ these laudable gentlemen,” as the High
Commissioner quaintly terms them, are assured of his
“ utmost support and protection.”
While Avar Avas still raging, the missionaries had
agreed to send Tiyo Soga to Scotland under the care of
Mr. Govan, founder of Lovedale, avIio desired that his
promising pupil should have the benefit of a Christian
<!$tar Emir Mtsstmtiirn ®rtal, 1821-1856 37
education in this country. His brave mother, Nosutu,
Christian wife of a heathen councillor, whose
wsyitsSs°coatiand.tribe was even then in tlie field against the
British, when asked if she would trust her
son in the country of his father’s foes, replied, “ My son
is the property of God, and when across the sea will still
KAFFIR WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
he in God’s keeping.” It was in this visit that John
Street Church, Glasgow, made the young Kaffir their
special charge, watching over his school life in the great
city, till on 7th May, 1848, he was baptized under their
own roof, and, by their own minister, Dr. William
Anderson, was admitted into the fellowship of the Church.
38
®br ^torjr of our laffrarinn pissiou
At tlio happy union of the Secession and Relief
Churches in 1847, the Kaffrarian Mission was adopted
tt ■ * by the United Presbyterian Church. The
Union of 1847. 0 . J
Society which had so long and vigorously
laboured on its behalf, handed over to our Mission
Board a sum of .£2000, collected for the restoration of
property destroyed in the war, and for the further
extension of the mission. In the following year the
Rev. George Brown was ordained as missionary to Kaf-
fraria, and after a voyage of three months, reached the
Chumie in February 1849. The same ship brought back
young Tiyo Soga, who had been accepted as a catechist,
and was now duly appointed to the new station of
Uniondale, in the heart of his native Amatolas, where
he began his life of service to his countrymen as teacher
and evangelist under Mr. Riven.
The young teacher found himself in a good school at
Uniondale. Mr. Riven had proved himself from the
beginning an able and successful missionary. He had
diligently cultivated his linguistic gifts, had visited
Holland before his ordination in order to acquire the
Dutch language, and within a couple of years after his
settlement at Igquibigha, was for all practical purposes
master of the Kaffir tongue. His usual Sabbath work
included four services, one in English, one in Dutch, and
two in Kaffir. The latest Kaffir Hymn Book contains
a score of hymns from his pen, one of which, “ 0 Yehova
Vuka,” remains a standing favourite.
Uniondale took its name from the recent union of the
Churches, in which our missionaries were deeply inter-
ested. It was beautifully situated near the junction of
the Iveiskamma and the Xgulu. Under Mr. Riven’s
energetic management, a schoolhouse, and subsequently
a substantial stone church, were erected ; a system of
(Star sub Ulisstarrarg ®rinl, 1821-1856
39
irrigation was successfully introduced, to the astonish-
ment and admiration of the Kaffir labourers ; and schools,
itineracy, and steady evangelistic work, were speedily in
full operation.
Despite the hopes of peace now cherished, it soon
became evident that new troubles were in store. The
Gaikas fretted under what they regarded as
War’ ^ie V^'^ua^ deposition of Sandilli, and the
planting of military villages in the valley of
the Chumie, Early in 1850, the impostor Mlanjeni
bewitched the Kaffirs by his sorceries, and fanned the
embers of strife into a war which for bitterness and
bloodshed eclipsed all that had gone before. There had
been uneasiness for weeks, but the blow fell with savage
suddenness. Four days after a conference with Sir
Harry Smith at Fort Cox, the Kaffirs attacked a
military reconnaissance, killing ten of the soldiers and
capturing a quantity of ammunition. In the afternoon
the soldiers encamped near Uniondale, and warned Mr.
Kiven of impending danger. JSText morning dawned
on the blackest Christmas Day in the history of the
mission or of the colony. The Kaffirs attacked the
military villages, massacred forty-five of the inhabitants
who, from the contempt and roughness with which they
treated the natives, had long been the objects of their
bitter hatred, and at Auckland mingled the blood of
the settlers with the Christmas feast they had been
invited to share. W aimed by one of the converts at the
risk of his own life, Mr. Niven, with his delicate wife
and young family, tramped on foot the twenty-five long-
miles to the Chumie, leaving Soga and the native elder
Busak in charge of the station. In a few hours only a
fragment of one gable was left to show where Uniondale
church and manse had stood. One of the attacking
40 STIrt ^torn of onv Jiaffrarait IHissicm
party distinguished himself by ripping up the mission-
ary’s big Bible with his assegai, exclaiming as he
scattered the leaves to the winds, “There goes the thing
with which Niven is always troubling us.” At night-
fall Soga set off through the bush in the track of the
sorrowful missionary fugitives.1 A sad company
gathered for brief space under the shelter of the
Chumie ; but soon it was found prudent for the
missionaries to remove to Philipton on the Kat River,
on their way to the frontier, so as to make it clear to
the colonists that they were not parties to the strife.
The Rev. Henry Renton, of Kelso, who had been sent
out as the first deputy from the home Church, to advise
and comfort the missionaries and their con-
visitRent°n S vei4s) arrived only in time to become partaker
of their sufferings. In the enforced retreat
from the Chumie, in the five dreary weeks during which
he was shut up with them in Philipton, and in the noble
stand he made at Grahamstown when maligned and
mobbed by a section of the excited inhabitants, who
falsely accused him, in common with his missionary
brethren, of having been the cause of the Kaffir rising,
Mr. Renton gave proof of the nobility of character and
dauntless courage that ever distinguished him.
With the exception of the Christian converts, almost
the whole of the Kaffirs took part in the war. Even
the Hottentots joined in the desperate conflict, which
raged for more than two years. Indeed it was not till
March 2.3, 1853, that martial law was revoked. In the
end, exhausted, impoverished, beaten, the tribes sued
for peace. The Amatolas were for ever lost to the Gaikas ;
Kreli, their chief -paramount, was banished; and, torn
1 Poor Busak lost liis life in a vain attempt to protect the
cattle of the master he subsequently found in the colony.
<®ar aitb |Elbsronarg Crial, 1821-1856 41
from their beloved mountains, they were removed into the
flat woodless lands between the Keiskamma and the Kei.
Uniondale and Igquibigha had been turned into
military posts, and the mission was forbidden hence-
forth to occupy any of its old stations. Mr.
the^converts. Niven> accompanied by Tiyo Soga, returned
to Scotland. The missionary had strong
faith in the future of Kaffraria, and in the young Kaffir
GRAHAMSTOWN.
who had worked by his side, and whom he had learned
to love and trust. Were it for nothing else, Mr. Niven
deserves the lasting gratitude of the Church for what he
did at this time, on his own responsibility, in bringing
Soga to this country, and thus securing to our mission
one of its brightest ornaments. The young Kaffir, sad
at heart for his country, had refused tempting offers to
enter the service of the Government, setting his face
steadfastly towards the ministry. He would beg his
42
®J)r ^torg of our Jlaffrurimr Utissimt
bread from door to door, lie said, rather than abandon
the hope of preaching Christ to his heathen countrymen.
Mr. Cumming was unable for months to make his
way to the coast, and did not reach London till the
following May. It was his first and last furlough.
The native converts, despised and persecuted by their
fellows, and left as sheep without a shepherd, betook
themselves for safety to the mountain caves above the
Cliumie. Mrs. Chalmers, with a devotion akin to that
of her lost husband, gathered the women and children
into such shelter as she could provide — the men, as each
Lord’s Day came round, stealing down from the hills amid
which they were hid, to unite with them in worship and
prayers for peace. After passing with no small fortitude
through many dangers and trials, the converts were
gathered under the care of the Rev. Mr. Brownlee, at
King William’s Town, and ultimately to the number of
one hundred and twelve, found shelter with their four
elders in the friendly fold of Peelton, where good Mr.
Birt, of the London Missionary Society, watched over
them like a father.
The Chumie, which had risen from the ashes of the
War of the Axe, was a mission station no more. Mrs.
Chalmers remained there till 1867, living in
Last of the cottage she had built near the abandoned
station. The deputies of 1883 found her at
Alice, where, under the pleasant shade of Lovedale, she
spent the last twenty years of her life. When she died
in 1887, full of years and greatly beloved, her sons laid
her beside her husband, near the Gwali Stream : their
honoured grave being now all that marks the site where
once our earliest station flourished.
After an interval of many months, in which the future
of the mission seemed to tremble in the balance, the
cBnr air b tHisstonartr (Trial, 1821-1856
43
Synod of 1853 agreed that Mr. Mven should return
to South Africa to report on the prospects
Attempts at £ a new beginning. Mr. Gumming was
reconstruction. 0 °
permitted to accompany his friend, on
condition that should no opening be found his engage-
REV. ROBERT NIVEN.
ment must end with the year. Mr. Xiven’s inquiries and
interviews with Sandilli and his chiefs ended in failure.
The tribe had not lost hope of return to their old haunts
in the Amatolas, where they had water and game to the
full. The very cattle, they said, still turned their heads
44
5fbr ^torjj of our Jiaffrarimr fission
to the mountains, lowing night and morning for the rich
pastures they had lost. The Gaikas would entertain no
proposal that might be thought to hind them to their land
of exile. Their utmost grace was to permit two of the
native teachers, Dukwana and Tobe, to itinerate among
them. Tembuland was visited, hut the proposed new
settlement there could not be carried out.
With this discouraging report as the best olive branch
he could find, Mr. Niven came back to the home ark.
In 1855 he accepted a call to a new church at Maryhill,
near Glasgow, where he laboured with indefatigable
industry and good success till his lamented death in 1877.
He was not forgotten by his old converts in Kaffirland,
some of whom sent a generous contribution towards the
cost of his church. Four years before he entered into
rest, he was cheered by evidence that the good work he
had done in South Africa would live after him. • Mr.
James Davidson’s earliest convert at Elujilo was an old,
blind, but honourable councillor, Utiwezi, who ascribed
his first convictions to Mr. Niven’s ministrations of thirty
years before. “ Tell him,” was his message to his old
teacher, “ I have not forgotten all he told us about God
and His Son.” Utiwezi was baptised as “ Robert Niven.”
Mr. Cumming came back no more to Scotland. Find-
ing an opening at Glenthorn, he renewed his African
ministry there, among a polyglot people — Scots, Kaffirs,
Hottentots — who in 1855 were duly formed into a church,
with practically two congregations, white and coloured.
Still another and a wholly self-inflicted misery, was
to fall on the crushed and broken Kaffirs. A second
The cattle false prophet, Mhlakaza, worse than the
killing Deiu- first, arose in 1856, bringing, as he affirmed,
sion, 185G. a comman(| from the chiefs in the unseen
world, that the people should slaughter their cattle,
®Sa x auk pisshmarg ®rial, 1821-1856
45
consume their corn, and leave the fields uncultivated, in
order that in due time their forefathers might arise from
the dead, when corn would grow of itself, cattle would
spring out of the ground, and the Kaffirs of the past and
present generations would live together in immortal youth.
The people were given up to believe the lie. Galekas
and Gaikas alike fell into the snare. Kreli gave forth
the word that the prophet should be obeyed; and in
spite of the efforts of some of the chiefs and of Mr.
KAFFIR KRAALS.
Commissioner Brownlee, who moved heaven and earth
to save the people, before February 8, 1857, the day set
for the new resurrection, one hundred and fifty thousand
head of cattle — cattle “which the Kaffir loves as the
Arab loves his horse ” — had been slain, and the untilled
fields lay waste and barren.
The Rev. James Macdonald in his Light in Africa ,
graphically describes the closing scene of this tragedy.
Before the arrival of the eventful day, which happened to be
the morning after full moon, solemn fasts, following a long
46
tt bc .Stoqr of our Ji'affnuran |f issioir
debauch, were appointed and observed. Every hill smoked with
sacrifices offered to the ancestors, and, on the evening preceding
the resurrection day, a solemn service was held under a hill near
the mouth of the Great Kei River, at which tens of thousands of
expectant men were present. The sign given by Mhlakaja was that
on the morning succeeding the full moon, the sun was to rise
double. During that memorable night not an eye closed.
Young men feasted, drank, danced, and carried on high revelry,
while the elders sat in silent groups, or walked anxiously about
the huge fold prepared for the risen cattle of their chiefs. As the
night wore on and all things remained silent and still, under the
bright moon and feebly shining stars, the anxiety deepened, till
the dawn of day proclaimed the sun’s returning once more. As
the king of day showed the edge of his disc above the horizon all
eyes were turned to the east. Slowly and majestically he rose,
but his expected companion lagged behind, and black fear entered
the hearts which a little ago beat high with hope and expectation.
Mhlakaza declared that they had mistaken the day of the full
moon, and predicted triumph on the morrow. The next twenty-
four hours was but a sad time. Such food as had not been
destroyed was quite exhausted, and, as afternoon wore to evening,
hunger reminded them of their possible plight should Mhlakaza’ s
predictions prove false. But not a murmur was heard till once
more the sun appeared in solitary majesty.
Time after time the clay of resurrection and renewal
was postponed, but not till the autumn of that dreadful
year would the poor Kaffirs own that they had destroyed
themselves. Famine and disease stalked through the
land, and twenty thousand of the demented people were
cut off in circumstances of misery which cannot be
depicted. “ Thousands of human skeletons,” says Mr.
Chalmers, “ crept in bands, inch by inch, to the
colony where food could be found ; the highways were
strewn with corpses, and the towns and villages overrun
by dying men, women, and children.” The climax was
reached when the impostor himself, the cause of all this
misery, died of the famine he had brought upon the land.
CHAPTER IV
YEARS OP RECONSTRUCTION,
1857-1878
The dawn of brighter days appeared in September 1857,
when the Revs. Robert Johnston and Tiyo Soga — two
of the famous sevenfold band of ordained
Settlement of missionaries 0f the Church sent forth into
the Emgwali.
the foreign field that year — led the little
company of old converts and their families from their
refuge at Peelton to a new home on the Emgwali stream ;
and Mr. Cumming ceased to be our solitary missionary
in Kaffirland. Mr. Riven and Mr. Cumming had fixed
longing eyes on the Emgwali three years before. Diffi-
culties which then intervened seemed now to melt away,
and, with the cordial consent both of Government
and Gaikas, possession was obtained of the desired
site.
Intended at first to be nothing more than a shelter for
the few Kaffirs already connected with the mission, it was
saved from such restriction by the prompt action of the
two young missionaries, and by the common sense of
Sir George Grey, who, unable to see the utility of having
a mission station without people, opened the Emgwali
to all comers of whom the missionaries might approve.
It may be conceived with what joy the two mission-
aries returned from their interview with the governor.
48 Jslorg of our Juiffrariatt Pissioit
They had everything to do, and were ready to do every-
thing. It was not a manse for their own shelter they
were to set up, or a church in which to garner the
remnants of the past • they were laying the foundations
of a new mission, and nothing seemed too hard for them.
Spiritual work and manual labour went hand in hand.
Their architect forsook them, and his duties were
added to the rest. Materials were abundant for the
two small cottages and the miniature church — for all
were to be built of that famous colonial product “ wattle
and daub ” (sticks and mud). “ Brother Johnston ” was
painter, and “ Brother Soga ” glazier.
In six months the buildings were completed, and
amid such demonstrations of tearful joy as had not been
witnessed in Kaffirlancl for years the little flock gathered
into a sanctuary of their own, ate of the one bread, and
drank of the one cup common to all Christ’s sacramental
host, and sang once more the old Churnie communion
hymn. The outside Kaffirs soon showed their apprecia-
tion of the little church in the wilderness; and the
famine-swept district, lately the haunt of wolf and
vulture, became a centre of new life and hope to thou-
sands.
The two “ brothers ” did not long dwell together.
The congregation of Trinity Church, Grahamstown,
called Mr. Johnston to be their minister, and by the
autumn of 1859 Tiyo Soga was left in sole charge.
None shared with him the honour of replacing with a
more adequate edifice the first poor church, which soon
became too small for the worshippers. His first sub-
scriber was Sandilli himself, with an offer of 5s.
a month. The colonists, too, responded generously
to the appeal of the first Kaffir minister, who two
years before had startled their notions of propriety, but
49
Hears of fUtonsfruttbir, 1857-1878
who was already making his influence powerfully felt.
Prince Alfred, in whose train he had by special request
accompanied Sandilli to Cape Town, procured a Govern-
ment grant of £50, which in spite of some Voluntary
qualms was not returned, any more than the handsome
SANDILLI.
1 Jible with which the prince accompanied the gift, or
the pulpit cushion brought from Cape Town for the
admiration of all Kaffir beholders.
The year 18G1 was notable for more than the found-
4
50
®Ijt Sdoru of our Jiaffrariau Pissicw
The Girls1
School.
The Church
opened.
ing of the new church. In a thatched cottage hard by,
Miss Ogilvie opened the girls’ school, with an attend-
ance of sixty -six; and the missionary was
made glad by the arrival of his lifelong
friend, John A. Chalmers. The memory of
“Struthers” School was renewed when Mr. Chalmers
was ordained in Anderston Church, Glasgow, and the
sons of those who had sent out his father undertook
the support of this son of the old Chiunie manse.
The 15tli of June 1862, when the new church was
opened, was a great day at the Emgwali. The Gaika
Commissioner1 himself presided; Mr. Go van,
Soga’s Lovedale teacher, came to rejoice
with the Kaffir lad he had done so much to
form; while old Mr. Brownlee rode thirty miles from
King William’s Town to take part. The church, accom-
modating six or seven hundred people, cost only £1465,
of which the missionary had raised £600 by his own
personal efforts. It stands to this day, the modest
cathedral church of our mission, and Tiyo Soga’s best
material monument. The speeches of some of the natives
who contributed to the opening collection have been pre-
served. Pinda, a Lovedale man, gave 10s., exclaiming :
“ Such a house was never built before by a Gaika.”
Pita said : “ I am a child, an atom, a poor man of
the great place, but it was said anyone might say his
say — -I give 15s.” Ntusi: “I weep that I cannot enough
show my gratitude — I give £2.” Ivlaas, from the Bolo :
“ I have come to thank God, I give a cajpatar (lie-goat).”
One dearly loved was absent. Young Mrs. Chalmers,
the beloved daughter of the late Professor Lindsay, had
watched with eager sympathy the building grow from
week to week, while her own earthly house faded yet
1 Son of the Eev. William Brownlee,
[tars of lletoirsfnutiou, 1857-1878
51
more swiftly away. She was not spared to join in the
congratulations of the clay.
In the following year the leaky hut in which, sadly
to the detriment of his health, Soga had lived till now,
was replaced by the commodious manse which still
stands, though with many additions, under the shadow
THE EMGWALI MANSE.
of the tall eucalyptus trees of his planting. Here Dr.
Duff, the famous Indian missionary, found,
Tribute”8 as he says> “ the first native Kaffir ordained
minister of the everlasting gospel, in his
own comfortable manse, 'close to a spacious and well
fitted-up church, and surrounded by Kaffir kraals, partly
Christian and partly heathen, a spectacle worth while
travelling from Cape Town to witness.” Dr. Duff was
no less favourably impressed with Mr. Chalmers, and in
bearing his emphatic testimony to the mission, adds, “ A
nobler pair of missionaries it would be difficult to meet
52 ©be Utarg of one Jiaffrarian Mission
with. I scarcely know which of them to admire
most.”
Before Dr. Duff’s visit Mr. Chalmers had thrown him-
self into the front of the fight with heathenism, opening
a station of his own on the Thomas River,
station^ about a day’s journey to the north : his first
church, the shade of a mimosa tree — his
manse, a Kaffir hut. He called the new station
Henderson, in honour of Mr. John Henderson of
Park, for many years chairman of the Foreign Mission
Board.
The vacant place by Tiyo Soga’s side was well filled
in 1864 by the Rev. John Sclater, who was accompanied
by his sister. The membership at the
Years of in- Emgwali increased in numbers, and grew in
purity. Among the women a spirit of
inquiry showed itself. At Glenthorn Mr. Cumming
was cheered by many accessions, and by more precious
signs of grace ; and at Henderson Mr. Chalmers forgot
the hardships of the first days when the rains swept
through the hut where he sat, wet and hungry, with the
hand of the Lord heavy upon him.
Early in 1865 a new field opened. Kreli and his
Galekas were permitted to return from their exile
beyond the distant Bashee River, to occupy
the KeT a Part °f the Transkeian territory, which
had belonged to them before its forfeiture
in 1853. The remainder of his country was given to
the Fingoes. These were broken remnants of tribes,
who, fleeing as amamfengu, or wanderers, from Zululand,
in the wars of Chaka and Dingan, had found safety and
slavery among the Gaikas and Tembus, till, in the troubled
years between 1830 and 1857, they passed in numbers
into the colony as keepers of cattle and tillers of the
53
|kars of ^ktmtsfrudiott, 1857-1878
ground. Many had become Christians, and though
civilisation had made them acquainted with one of its
colonial specifics, Cape brandy, which prevented their
growing too rich or living too long, they increased and
multiplied. By this time their bounds had become too
strait for them, and they gladly caught at the offer of
Government lands in the Transkei. From the Emgwali
alone five chiefs with their people, including nearly one-
third of the whole membership, crossed into this new
Fingoland. Here they shook themselves free from the
drink traffic, and, as Mr. Macdonald says, “ entered on
a career of material progress and moral development un-
parallelled in the history of any other African tribe.”
It was evident that the missionaries must follow ; Kreli,
too, was prepared to welcome a teacher. With fraternal
good sense the two presbyteries of the United and Free
Churches, after many inspections of the new territory,
made an amicable division of it. The Free Church
planted its first new station at Toleni, and the Mbulu
Fingoes, though many of them had been attached
to Free Church missions in the south, fell to us with
the full consent of their spiritual fathers.
In the spring of 1867 Mr. Sclater and his sister
followed the Fingoes across the lovely valley of the Ivei,
and settled at the now famous station on
fomidedUlU the Mbulu River, some thirty miles from the
Emgwali. Six chiefs and their dependants
gave them welcome, and forty-nine old members were
found scattered through the district. No better
description of Mr. Sclater’s methods could be given
than in the words of a brother missionary of the Free
Church.
From liis principal centre lie made short journeys in his
waggon, which served both as a means of conveyance and as a
54
Bforg of out Jlaffrurimt Utrssiou
dwelling. These journeys extending to ten, fifteen, or twenty
miles, usually occupied eight to ten days. Halts were made at
the larger villages, and services were held. A centre was also
chosen in connection with each circuit, and there the missionary
remained stationary for several days or even weeks. These
centres gradually grew into out-stations, and his visits began to
be looked forward to as regular events. In this way he made the
acquaintance of a large number of people, and the prejudice
against himself and the message he bore was gradually overcome.
A school was opened and taught by a native Christian. Classes
were conducted during the week by the missionary for adult
inquirers, and audiences were given to all and sundry who came
to him. no matter what their object.
For months Mr. Sclater preached at the head station
under the shade of a big thorn tree ; then a hut was set
up, followed by the first church at the foot of the hill.
As the work prospered in his hands he recalled youthful
days at Kirkwall, and the mission work of the noble
old Secession “ Bishop of the Orkneys,” under whom
lie had been trained, and after whom he gave the Mbulu
its new name of Paterson.
In connection with this station the mission received
assistance of an unusual kind from Major Malan, a
grandson of Dr. Csesar Malan, whose deep
Major Malan. .. ... , . . .
convictions oi spiritual realities and ot a
present living Christ he largely inherited. When in
garrison with his regiment, the 75th Infantry, at King
William’s Town, he had taken part in the opening of the
new church at Paterson, 9th January 1872. He found
two hundred converts gathered out of a population of
seven thousand heathen. The church had cost £150,
and the last portion of the debt was cleared off on the
opening day — some of the “ red blankets ” joining their
gifts to those of the Christian Kaffirs. This scene and
all he saw in the Transkei made a deep impression on
the Christian soldier, who soon afterwards, under the con-
gear's of $lmmstratticnr, 1857-1878
55
straint of duty, retired from the army, and for years
rendered valuable service to the mission. In Mr.
Sclater’s absence on furlough, in 1873, he took charge of
the station, and founded Uxolo, eight miles south of the
Bashee. Here he placed Mr. Quince R. Noble, whom,
with two other young men, he had brought from
Scotland at his own charges. Major Malan received
the thanks of Synod when present in court, May
1874; but he found his most precious recompense in
many who were brought to the Saviour during the
revival days that crowned his fruitful ministry among
the Kaffir tribes. In his death, May 17, 1881, the
Church lost one who had served her well.
Mr. Sclater’s place at the Emgwali was taken by Mr.
James Davidson, who now, after a ministry of four years
Tiyo soga’s King William’s Town, volunteered for
work at work wholly among the Kaffirs, in which
he continues to this present. He was
soon left alone at his new station. The Conference of
Missionaries could no longer delay to occupy tire Galeka
country, and resolved to send thither two of their best
men to work for a time in company. Those chosen were
Mr. Govan of Lovedale and Tiyo Soga. The result of
their inquiries was a call from the Conference to Mr. Soga
to become first missionary to Ivreli and his people at the
Tutura, the great chief joining his entreaties to the man
whom he knew and trusted. With the unselfishness
and devotion to duty which distinguished him, Mr. Soga
gave up his happy home, and the Christian atmosphere
and cherished 'work of the Emgwali, to accept this
gospel call to outpost and pioneer duty, under the
shadow of blackest heathenism. It was a matter of
course that he should go. “ A missionary,” he would
say, “ has no home here. When health permits he must
56 ®Ijc JSior}i of ouc Jiaffnuiuu Iflisskut
be ready to serve where duty calls.” On the 4th of
June 1868 he left the Emgwali, — not to return, — to the
deep regret both of Europeans and Kaffirs, to whom he
had ministered during ten laborious and fruitful years.
TIYO SOGA, 2ETAT 28.
Tire red Kaffirs round Tutura responded to the appeal
made to them by Soga’s coming, and more heathen
crowded to service than he had ever seen at the
Emgwali. He was well supported by a new colleague,
the Rev. William Girdwood (formerly of Penicuik and
57
fears of fetonsfmfioir, 1857-1878
C/D
Perth), who at his earnest request was appointed to be
his helper. Mr. Girdwood’s medical skill — with which
he still does the mission good service — soon won the
heart of Kreli’s prime minister, whom he cured of an
obstinate disease, and the mission grew in favour. The
Sabbath was respected throughout the ten-miles circuit
visited by the missionaries and their three evangelists —
Festiri (Tiyo Soga’s brother), Jan- Boy, and Xinti.
But, as might be expected, the actual membership
continued small — only eighteen native Christians ;
and in the report for 1870 — the last he was to write —
Mr. Soga makes the sad entry, “ Xo addition during
the year.” He was not to see the days of ingathering,
for which he sowed the seed, and which were not far
away. In the eighteen months after his death, more
Kaffirs and Fingoes joined the Transkei churches than
during six years before.
Tiyo Soga’s work was almost done, but before he left
us he had the joy of seeing yet another church for which
he had toiled — the first Galeka church — consecrated with
prayer and thanksgiving to the service of God. On
Sabbath, 16th April 1871, a day of perfect summer
beauty, the little company worshipped at simrise for the
last time in the hut which for two years had served as
the Tutura church, that, as one of the Kaffirs said, they
might not fail to “ take with them the blessing of the
old house into the new.” The dedication services were
conducted by Soga’s close friends, Bryce Ross, who came
a hundred miles from Pirie ; John A. Chalmers, from
the Gaika country eighty miles away ; and Mr. Sclater,
his next-door neighbour at the Mbulu, only twoscore
miles distant. At the W ednesday feast which followed,
the remaining debt on the modest edifice (forty feet by
twenty), whose entire cost was only £52, 19s. 6d., was
58
®lje Storjr of our JHaffrarrmt fission
Death of
Tiyo Soga.
swept away with great rejoicings — two of the Emgwali
elders coming with an offering which Soga likened to
that “ from an elder to a younger sister on her marriage
day.”
Such was our Kaffir missionary’s bright farewell to
public service. Straight from this earthly house which
he had built he was to pass into a building
of God, not made rvith hands, eternal in the
heavens. Death had touched him, though
he knew it not. He was busy to the last, but saw the
faces of his brethren no more. He was unable to join
them in their conference at King William’s Town, or
to attend a meeting of the Bible Revisers, to whom
he sent his MS. translation of Acts xiv. to xxiii.
After verse twenty-fifth, in the last chapter, he had
written in Kaffir, “Strength has failed me.” He
died on the 12th of August 1871, in the arms of
Richard Ross, his old Lovedale schoolfellow and brother
missionary.
The story of Tiyo Soga’s life and ministry has been
well told by his friend Chalmers, who in 1888 joined
him on the farther shore. Soga was a ripe theologian,
an evangelistic missionary with no superior in the annals
of our Church. As a translator he has left his mark on
the Kaffir version of Holy Scripture, and in his forceful,
brilliant rendering of the Pilgrim’s Progress, a marvel of
accuracy and lucidity of expression, he has given to the
literature of his people an enduring Christian classic.
The thought of him recalls a charming personality, a
strong character beautified by gentleness, a warrior
heart that never knew fear or shame, a pure and child-
like spirit. His passionate loyalty to his Lord had its
earthly counterpart in an unswerving devotion to the
race from which he sprang, whose noblest qualities he
59
||tars of IjUtoustratfioir, 1857-1878
embodied, whom he loved with an intense patriotism,
and for whose sake lie laid down his life.
On the east wall of the Emgwali church, above the
pulpit, is fixed a tablet, the gift of Mr. Whyte Millar,
of Edinburgh, bearing in Kaffir an inscription written
by Dr. William Anderson, which may well find a place
in this record. It runs thus : — -
®ljis Mdonc is to herp us in HentemliraueE of
The Rev. TIYO SOGA,
The first ordained Preacher of the Kaffir race.
He was a friend of God ; a lover of His Son ; inspired
by His Spirit ; a disciple of His Holy Word ; an ardent
patriot ; a large-liearted philanthropist ; a dutiful son ;
an affectionate brother ; a tender husband ; a loving
father ; a faithful friend ; a learned scholar ; an eloquent
orator ; in manners a gentleman ; a devoted Missionary,
who spent himself in his Master’s service :
A MODEL KAFFIR.
TIYO SOGA’s GRAVE, TUTUKA.
60
®Ijc Slorjr of our Jtafftarian: IfUssicw
During the years between the opening of the Transkei
and the disastrous tribal war of 1877, the mission
received many accessions and saw many
Changes118 ^ c^ianges- M)'- Cumming had been trans-
ferred in 1868 to the charge of the Emgwali,
in which he continued till his retirement from the active
ministry. Mr. Girdwood had founded the new station
of Quolora, where his fame as a physician drew patients
from all Fingoland, till the close of his first term of
service, when the station Avas committed to a young
missionary, the Rev. R. S. Leslie, who had spent his
early months in Kafhrland, at Henderson. Quolora
Avas in 1874 given to the Rev. John Dewar, Avho in the
jArevious year had joined the mission. From the begin-
ning it proved to be stony ground. The old chief,
Mapassa, next in importance to Ivreli, Avas a slave to
the witch-doctor, Avliile his people were noted beer-
drinkers. In 1875 both church and manse Avere
destroyed by a tempest.
Another new station, Elujilo, was opened, under Mr.
James Davidson, in the same year Avith Quolora. Here
the people were more responsive, and the Mbulu methods
of itinerating over a wide district produced good fruit.
But, in 1876, Mr. Sclater having accepted a call to
Coupland Street Church, Manchester, Mr. Davidson
relinquished this post in favour of the Rev. Janies M.
Auld Avho had just arrived, and removed to Paterson,
Avhere he still remains, a veteran Avith the heart of peren-
nial youth. In this same year another heavy loss befell
the mission, in the acceptance by Mr. Chalmers of a call
from the same church at Grahamstown, which in 1859
had taken Mr. Johnstone from our roll of missionaries.
The Rev. Thomas Shearer joined the mission in 1874,
and, succeeding Mr. Leslie and Mr. Dewar, began at
61
§eu xs of |lmmslntctioir, 1857-1878
The Sixth
War, 1877.
Glenthorn an earnest ancl laborious ministry. A profit-
able connection was formed during this period with two
colonial churches — that of Adelaide, which in 1870 was
received as a mission station under charge of its minister
of nine years’ standing, the Rev. Peter Davidson ; and
that of Somerset East, whose minister, the Rev. William
Leith, undertook charge of the neighbouring mission
station of Glenavon.
In twenty years the almost extinguished mission, to
whose rescue Tiyo Soga and Robert Johnston came in
1857, had by the divine blessing grown till
it numbered eleven chief stations and about
thirty out-stations, among the Gaika, Galeka,
and Fingo tribes on both sides of the Kei — with a staff
including nine European missionaries and a considerable
number of native evangelists and teachers. In spite of
trial and disappointment it was now a well-established
mission, enjoying the full sympathy and confidence of
the Church, and equipped for yet larger service, when
in a moment, as it seemed, the tribal war of 1877,
happily the last we have to chronicle, gave a sudden
blow to this hopeful condition of things, and changed
well-nigh the whole aspect of the mission.
The Gaikas and Galekas, who had long looked with a
jealous eye on the prosperity of their former slaves,
the Eingoes, were ready to seize every occasion of
quarrel ; and if any lagged or wearied, the taunts of the
women spurred them to the field. Cattle raids on both
sides led to the interference of the British Government
in support of. the more docile and loyal Fingoes. The
imperial troops suffered temporary defeat, but the dis-
turbance was speedily put down. Severe punishment
followed. The Galekas were scattered, and their
country was annexed to the Colony. SandilH fall-
G2 ®br £?toq) of our Jlaffrnriair Pisstou
ing in battle as a rebel, bis whole country was con-
fiscated and sold as farms. One loyal portion of
the tribe, under Chief Fynn, grandson of Gaika, was
deported across the Kei into half the territory formerly
occupied by the Galekas; and 25,000 Galekas were
allowed to settle down in the other half, while Kreli
himself, with about 2000 followers, was banished
beyond the Bashee.
CAPE-CAKT.
Though, compared with the earlier Kaffir wars, the
affair of 1877 was but a tribal quarrel, its results
were disastrous to the mission, which found
stunnodS1°n itself in the thick of the fight. James
Davidson, though Paterson was within a few
hours’ march of both the hostile forces, stuck to his post
through all the war — as did his Free Church neighbour,
Richard Ross of Cunningham — and escaped without
damage. But the houses and stations of four missionaries
gears of |fecoastnufjoit, 1857-1878
63
were plundered and made desolate. Among the Gaikas,
Elujilo was reduced to ashes ; and Henderson, which Mr.
Lundie was about to occupy, was laid in ruins. In
Galekaland, the Quolora, Uxolo, and Tutura, with all
their out-stations, were destroyed. In buildings alone
the loss was nearly £4000. Three missionaries thus
dispossessed were lost to the mission. Mr. Quince
hToble took service in Jamaica, where he still diligently
labours ; Mr. Dewar accepted a call to a new colonial
charge at Tarkastad ; and Mr. Leslie, the beloved
missionary of the Galekas, after brief interval, died at
the Emgwali. Glenthorn, Somerset East, and Adelaide
escaped — though the war raged within three hours of
Mr. Shearer’s station. Of the frontier stations, only the
Emgwali and Paterson survived.
CHAPTER Y
YEARS OF PROSPERITY AND EXPANSION,
1879-1894
The Emgwali
We come now to indicate briefly the course of later
years, years happily of continuous prosperity and
advance. Since 1857, when the tribes,
stationther scattered and peeled by war and disaster,
first gathered round the Emgwali, it had
been a city of refuge both to missionaries and people,
and again in 1878 they fled to it till the new storm
should spend itself. The Government recognised its
value as a rallying point for loyal Kaffirs, by increasing
its territory from five thousand to eleven thousand
acres.
Seated in the bosom of gently-swelling hills, treeless,
and for the most part of the year clad in russet, — though
Major Malan, who saw it in early summer, likens it to
a diamond set in bright green velvet — its five Kaffir
villages clustering round the central plateau on which
stand the neat church and the home-like manse, with its
garden bearing all manner of fruits, — the Emgwali will
ever be associated with names and memories historic in
the annals of the mission. Here Soga laboured during
the years of his prime. Here Leslie died. In the rough
64
65
ISrospcritg mtk (Srpanstou, 1879-1894
vestry at one end of the church, Chalmers and Ids
young bride-wife lived the few months they were
together, and in the cemetery hard by he laid her in
her early grave. Here Mr. Cumming for eighteen years
kept open house for all coiners, counselled the younger
brethren, and tended his flock with the quiet confidence of
them that wait upon the Lord, and the shrewd common-
sense which does not always come with missionary or
any other ordination. Here, too, notable men and
women of the Kaffir race have shown their devotion
to a nobler chief than their fathers followed. Men
like Nikani, type of the quiet God-fearing evangelist ;
Zaze Soga, still labouring at Tutura ; Tobe Undayi, who,
converted at the Churnie under a searching word from
the first Chalmers, worked with the son of his old
missionary through the hard days at Henderson, and
ended here, in August 1890, his long course of faithful
service as elder and evangelist.
Of the Kaffir women associated with the Emgwali
may be named Nosutu, one of the first converts of the
Churnie, and mother of Tiyo Soga, who
wnmLKafEl indeed saved him for the Church, doing
much more for her boy than gather, as she
used to tell, the sneeze-wood torches, by which he
conned his lesson in the Kaffir hut of his youth. Here
the deputies of 1883 found Nosutu’s daughter Tause,
whose record is that, when but a girl, her promptitude
and courage turned aside a treacherous assegai which
threatened the life of good Mr. Niven, her spiritual
father. Nor must mention be omitted of old Sutu,
the inliosilcazi, or great wife, of Gaika, and mother of
the unstable Sandilli. Like many others, seeking at the
Emgwali only safety from threatened danger, she found
here Him who is the Refuge for the oppressed, a Refuge
5
66 ®bc ^forg of our Jtaffraran pissiou
in times of trouble. Mr. Carstairs tells how he and
his fellow-deputies interviewed her in her bare hut,
where Kamo, her faithful Ivaffir Deborah, a maid of
seventy, still waited .on a mistress of ninety years.
Husband, children, authority, sight, Sutu had lost them
all ; but she had found Christ, and in the thought of
TAUSf: SOGA AND HER FAMILY.
what she had found, the memory of all that she had
lost, she said, had faded away. “ And what have you
to tell about Him 1 ” asked the deputy. A pause, and
then came the words, perfect in simplicity and fitness,
“ I love Him.” There was a lady with the gift of song
in the little company, and under her lead the strangers
sang the “ bairns’ hymn ” — “ There is a happy land, far,
67
Mr. Stirling.
Mrosperxtg anb fepmrsioit, 1879-1894
far away.” As they sang, the stoicism of the old chief-
tainess melted in a flood of tears. “ I cannot sing,” she
sobbed, “ but my heart sings.” Two years thereafter
the blind eyes saw the King in His beauty, and the
voice that could not sing found its music in the song of
the redeemed.
The Rev. John W. Stirling was appointed to the
Emgwali in 1882 as colleague to Mr. Gumming, begin-
ning housekeeping with his young wife in
the same uncomfortable quarters where Mr.
and Mrs. J. A. Chalmers had found lodgment twenty-one
years before. Here Mr. Stirling gained the familiarity
with the language and the practical experience which
prepared him in 1886 to carry the gospel into regions
beyond, in the distant valley of the Sulenkama.
In the same year Mr. Gumming, at the age of seventy-
eight, retired to. seek a well-earned repose, his with-
drawal closing a notable record of forty-seven
Mr. Camming. . "l
years service. He had passed through
the wars of 1846, 1851, and 1877, with a calm
trust and steadfast adherence to duty which won the
confidence alike of colonist and Kaffir. When war
raged round the Waterkloof, his place of retreat near
the Mankazana was well known to Macomo ; but the
great Kaffir chief, as his friend found long afterwards,
had given his red warriors charge not to molest “ our
Gaika teacher.” This venerable missionary celebrated
his jubilee in 1889, the occasion revealing the honour-
able place he had gained in the respect of the Mission
Board, and the affection of his brethren. With his
devoted wife — a Pringle of Glenthorn — he still lives
in the enjoyment of a hale old age.
The empty place at the Emgwali was filled by the
appointment of the Rev. Alexander Welsh, who had
68
®ljc isforg of mu Jlaffrariatt Passion
joined the mission two years before. Under his superin-
tendence the station is renewing its youth
Mr. Welsh. ■, J '
I he church has been repaired and beautified,
and, better still, times of revival have visited the
people ; the empty seats of those who have crossed
the Kei are filling up with new converts, the member-
ship at the close of 1893 being over three hundred,
with eighty candidates for church fellowship.
An important and attractive feature of the work at
the Emgwali is the Girls’ School of the Ladies’ Kaffrarian
Society. Originating in Glasgow in the
School'1 1S year 1839, the first efforts of the Ladies’
Association were made at Igquibigha, the
Rev. Robert Niven’s station, where Miss M'Laren
laboured from 1840 to 1845. After a long interval —
the institution sharing the interruptions common to
South African missions — it was removed to the
Emgwali in 18G1, under the charge of Miss Ogilvie,
a niece of Mr. Niven, whose term of laborious and
faithful service extended over eighteen years. On
Miss Ogilvie’s retirement in 1880, she was succeeded
by Miss M'Ritchie, who again in 1887 gave place to the
present admirable superintendent. Miss Hope is a
great favourite with the girls, and under her control
the best traditions of the past are being fully main-
tained. A daughter of Tiyo Soga did good work
here, till her health giving way in 1893 compelled
her return to Scotland.
Eor more than fifty years the ladies have made the
school their charge, till it now takes rank among the
important Kaffir training institutions of the colony.
Nine years ago new buildings were provided at a cost
of £3500, but even these soon proved inadequate, and
new class-rooms were added in 1891. “The buildings,”
THE EMGWALI GIRLS,
71
|)roS|JcritjT anb dApausion:, 1879-1894
says Mr. Buchanan, “ form an imposing structure, and
supply dormitory accommodation for seventy-five girls,
besides class-rooms, hall, and teachers’ apartments.
About 150 Kaffir girls and maidens are under instruc-
tion, of whom over seventy are hoarders. The value of
such an institution cannot be questioned.” Six of the
girls are now teaching in the boys’ school. But the in-
stitution is more than a school— more even than a Normal
THE girls’ SCHOOL, EMGWALI.
School for training teachers. It is a big Christian home
whose aim it is to bring Kaffir maidens under such
lasting impressions of domestic sanctities and sacred
influences as may be reproduced by and by in homes
of their own. If Kaffiaria is to be lifted out of
heathenism, it must have Christian wives and mothers,
and these the girls’ school of the Emgwali is well fitted
to supply.
®Ije S'iorj) of mir |iaffrariim Passion
72
The Mbulu or Paterson
In 1866 Mr. Sclater bnilt the little hut in which
the worship of the living and true God was first set up
in the valley of the Tsorno. Paterson is beautiful for
situation, gladdened by a southern aspect, and set
amid an amphitheatre of hills, low lying “ like a heart
of sweet desires.” The tribes do not go up but down
to it; and it is a fair sight on a Communion Sabbath
morning to watch the people appearing first on the sky-
line far above and then threading the bush on their
gladsome way to church. The district occupied lies
foursquare, forty miles each way, with a population
of twenty thousand Fingoes, the most susceptible to
the gospel of all the Kaffir tribes. A servant of
servants has the Fingo been to his brethren, but in
Christ’s kingdom the last is first, and he here easily
takes a place which the prouder Gaika or Galeka
reaches only with a struggle.
Mr. James Davidson has been identified with this
station since 1876. When he came to it the twoscore
members with whom Mr. Sclater began the
Mr. James mission ten years before had become well-
nigh three hundred, and now the member-
ship is over seven hundred, with two hundred and fifty
candidates. Climbing the wall of hill that shuts it in,
Mr. Davidson, like Mr. Sclater before him, has visited the
villages for miles round, by degrees founding out-stations
in every quarter. The kraal-going missionary has made
a kirk-going people. At Incisininde, Lutuli, Xolobe,
Esigubudweni, and Matinjini, are found organised
congregations, which, like the mother church itself,
send back across the heathen darkness the light that
lightens every man that cometh into the world. The
73
Jkosperitjr mtit (Srjjausioit, 1879-1894
eight-and-twenty ploughs, seen by one visitor to Lutuli,
turning the barren waste into a fruitful field, are but an
emblem of the spiritual husbandry of which Paterson
is the centre. The water-course which irrigates its
orchard and brings fertility into the maize patches of
the native families, fitly images the living waters which
have turned the surrounding wilderness into a fruitful
field. Fifty voluntary workers, including six-and-
twenty elders and four deacons, are at work Sabbath
after Sabbath, and many of them on week-days too,
breaking up the fallow ground on which a spiritual
harvest begins to wave with prosperous fruit like
Lebanon. Mr. Davidson’s report for 1893 tells of the
baptism at one service of eighty -five persons, of whom
more than half were adult converts from heathenism.
Prayer and pains go hand in hand at Paterson. The
deputies of 1883 record that their last glimpse of it
showed the women on their way to morning
station 1 prayer. Out of the Women’s Thursday
prayer-meeting, held in each friendly kraal
by turns, originated the station of Matinjini, twenty-
eight miles distant, the women going eight miles from
their own village under their leader “ Eliza ” to this
outlying kraal, till they won a new out-station for the
Church. Mr. Davidson pays great attention to the train-
ing of the young. His eight day-schools, with their
fifteen teachers and five hundred scholars, are famous
in the Transkei. Some of his pupils have done him
special credit. In 1887 a son of Teacher Fumba carried
off the honours in a Government examination open to
all the natives of the colony.
Paterson has had its trials. It early lost its founder ;
in 1881 tire new church and school were struck by
lightning and consumed; in 1885 the church at Esigu-
74
®Ij£ Storjr of our Jlaffrarimt Ipsston
budweni was burnt to the ground just when it was
ready to be opened ; while in the same year two hundred
members left the district, and the schools were almost
emptied. But its trials have been blessed, and now in
common with other sister stations it is rejoicing in
promise of yet better things to come.
Mr. Davidson has found a noble helper in Mrs.
Forsyth (formerly Miss Moir), who since 1886 has
devoted herself and her means to the evan-
Mrs. Forsyth.
gelisation of the Kaffirs of the Upper Xolobe,
a rude and rough people, who settled in this valley
some years ago. The story of her work and life
among these children of the mountains reads like a
romance. At first regarded with suspicion, her unselfish
interest in their welfare, her courage and trustfulness — -
one solitary loving woman among a tribe of savages —
have won their hearts, and now she dwells among them
as a queen. She has built a modest dwelling and a
little chapel-school, where the children love to gather,
and their fathers and mothers to worship. In the
school she has some sixty pupils, and in all about one
hundred and seventy have passed through her hands.
Forty have professed their faith in Christ, of whom the
larger proportion have been admitted to the fellowship
of the Church. Mr. Buchanan, who visited the valley
in 1892, thought Mrs. Forsyth and her work the most
remarkable sight he had seen in his South African
travels. May this brief reference draw out more prayer
on behalf of a Christlike worker, and lead some to
imitate and share her service ! The Greenock Ladies’
Kaffrarian Society have for years supported Mrs.
Forsyth’s native helper, Emily Ktintili. They have
recently presented the station with excellent buildings
erected at their cost; and are now (1894) sending
75
|}rospcritg anil Expansion, 1879-1894
out INliss Isabella Lamb to work along with Mrs.
Forsyth.
Columba
In 1879 a forward step was taken in the opening of
the new station of Columba, beyond the Kentani Hill,
and almost within sound of the beat of the Indian
Ocean. Here, the Rev. James M. Auld, whose fiery
baptism in the mission had already been received at
Elujilo, found new scope for the ardent missionary spirit
which impelled him from the outset of his theological
studies to consecrate himself to the foreign field, and to
that section of it specially dear to the branch of the
Church which his father and grandfather served
through two long generations. He found a site for
his station on a peninsula formed by the windings of
the Kobnaba River, and here built himself a wattle
and daub manse, which contrived to stand, though
not in a very upright attitude, till the deputies
of 1883 were received beneath its kindly, if somewhat
leaky roof. The Gaika people gave him cordial welcome,
men and women working with their own hands in the
building of a brick church which, blown down when
all but completed, was set up again in 1880 — twice
built without help from the Board. Here Mr. Auld
continues to labour in a difficult country and among a
somewhat difficult people. The country, all up hill and
down dale, scarred by ravines and rivers, tries the
temper and patience of the traveller ; and labour among
the people is also uphill work. The Gaikas are proud
and need tender handling. They were foremost in the
many bitter wars that have swept across Kaffirland.
They tested and learned to despise the civilisation of
the old colonial days. And if they have yielded, when
76
®bc Sitorg of our Jiafframm fission
beaten, to force of arms, and all too easily to the seduc-
tions of the white man’s brandy, they show all their
racial stubbornness when resisting the overtures of the
gospel. The red clay is hard to dig. But patience is
having its perfect work. Services are now held at a
dozen centres, two new evangelists are at work, and one
by one souls are added to the little Church and to the
missionary’s crown.
Malan
Mr. Auld’s settlement at Columba was soon followed
by that of the Rev. John Lundie at Malan, and for a
dozen years they have been next-door neighbours,
though six-and-thirty miles apart. The road into the
hare Galekaland runs almost due north past the military
post of Ibeka, with its towering eucalypti, round which
Kreli’s braves in the “ Women’s War ” of 1877 surged
in vain, though led on by a daughter of his great witch-
doctor, till she fell before a Fingo assegai. Malan,
named after the Christian soldier to whom the mission
owes so much, was opened in 1881, the year of his
death. The deputies of 1883 found Mr. Lundie and his
wife lodged in three Kaffir huts, one serving as parlour
and bedroom, one as the minister’s study and store-room,
and the third as kitchen. These primitive arrangements
have given place to a comfortable manse ; while the mud
church in which the little hock of Christians was swal-
lowed up by the host of red Kaffirs who brought Kreli’s
greetings to the deputies, was in 1890 replaced by a
good building accommodating three hundred persons, the
cost of which, just as many pounds, was defrayed — £150
by Mr. Lundie’s personal efforts, and £150 by the people.
Mr. Lundie’s parish is about twenty-hve miles square,
with a population of thirty-six thousand, of whom
Prasptritg mtb feparamr, 1879-1894 77
twenty thousand are Galekas, and sixteen thousand
Fingoes. Between the visits of the deputies of 1883
and 1892, the membership had grown from seventy-six
to three hundred and twenty-four. All over the district
A WITCH-DOCTEESS.
Mr. Lundie has planted out-stations, and at Dadamba,
Bikana, Shixini, little churches have been built, some of
them at the sole cost of the people. The Shixini church,
like that of too many in the mission, has had to be
78
®!je §foni of our Jlaffrarimr $$Usstoit
built twice over. When completed in 1891 it was
opened for worship by the venerable Richard Ross, son
of the John Ross who joined the Clmmie Mission in
1823. Mr. Lundie has now thirteen elders, and five
day-schools, with eight teachers and two hundred
children in attendance. At first the teachers had to
hunt up the children and compel them to come in, but
now the school itself supplies attraction enough. The
Malan people are beginning to show an evangelistic zeal,
akin to that which burned in the breast of him whose
name the station bears. They eagerly assist in services
held in heathen kraals, while the women, headed by
Mrs. Lundie, hold weekly service with their heathen
sisters.
The Tutura
In 1884 Zazc Soga, Tiyo’s half-brother, began to
gather round the forsaken Tutura a few Gaikas and
Fingoes ; and in the following year the Rev. William
Girdwood, resuming work at this, his original station, set
himself earnestly to rebuild its waste places. The district
immediately responded. In a few months the member-
ship increased to one hundred and thirty-three ; a new
brick church was erected, largely through the liberality
of the people, two native schools were opened, and a
spiritual movement began to make itself felt. In the
following year, at three out-stations, wattle and daub
buildings were set up, to serve as churches on Sunday
and schools during the rest of the week. The dawn of
1887 was marked by the erection of a humble church,
costing £11 8s. 8d., at the Gobe — till now a stronghold
of heathenism. The collection on the opening day,
which wiped off all the debt, included “a young ox,
five sheep, two pigs, a few fowls, several half-crowns
irospmtg mffi fepmtsiotr, 1879-1894
79
from neighbouring headmen, and a shower of sixpences
and ‘ tickies ’ (threepenny pieces), from Hlanganise’s
own people.” There are now six out-station chapels.
Several heathen “ wards ” are under the pastoral charge
of active native evangelists. So much church build-
ing goes on in the district, many of the red Kaffirs
taking part with the Tutura people, that the heathen
folk begin to fear they are to be turned into
Christians whether they will or not. Among recent
conversions, Mr. Girdwood rejoices in that of Botoman,
an ancient councillor of Kreli’s, now verging on his
ninetieth year, but bringing forth fruit in old age.
Through his influence a district school has been opened,
in which the missionary recently found forty-live Galeka
children, all in red Kaffir attire.
In no part of the older mission has there been more
rapid progress. The deputies of 1883 saw only ruins at
Tutura, with scarce a shrub to mark the last resting-
place of our great Kaffir missionary. Desolation and
neglect had marked the place for their own. But in
1892 Mr. Buchanan found a flourishing station of
more than two hundred members, with churches and
schools, giving evidence that the mission had taken a
firm hold of the people, under a missionary whose deep
interest in the Kaffir race, knowledge of their language,
medical skill, and administrative ability have won their
hearts, and made him a power for good all round
Kentani Hill. The baleful influence of the witch
doctors is being undermined, and instead of the wild
revelries of the drunkard, the air is filled with the songs
of little children in praise of Him who said, “ Suffer
the little children to come unto Me.” Of one district
Mr. Girdwood makes the striking report that all the
older school children are now members of the church.
80
®bc Jlforg of our Jtaffrarimi Utissbit
For much of this success the missionary gladly expresses
Ids obligations to the God-fearing and zealous native
evangelists who have gathered around him.
Buchanan
For five years Malan had the honour to be the
frontier station of the mission; but in 1886 Mr. Stirling
left the well-established work at the Emgwali to plant
the standard in the heart of the Pondomise country,
now called Griqualand East, a hundred miles north of
our farthest outpost. Here in the remote Sulenkama
Valley, between the rivers Tsitsa and Tina, his courage
and enterprise have met with a great reward. In
1881 the Pondomise, under their chiefs Mhlonhlo and
Mditshua, had rebelled against British rule. After the
war, in which they were broken and scattered, they were
permitted to return to their country ; but large tracts of
it were given to the ever-rcady Fingoes, overcrowded
now in parts of the Transkei, as formerly in the colony.
The numerous Christian families who flocked into the
new territory were guarded by their missionaries, Mr.
Ross of Cunningham and Mr. Davidson of Paterson.
It was agreed to form two new stations. One, named
Somerville, was allocated to the Free Church, and the
other to our Mission. Each of these stations had thus
the advantage of n large nucleus of Christian people.
The Pondomise, the aboriginal inhabitants, are not
warmly disposed to Christianity ; but the chiefs cordially
welcomed the coming of the missionary. Ezantsi gave
a site for the new mission ; a school was speedily
opened, the boys coming in ox-hides and the girls in
cotton blankets ; and after a year’s labour Mr. Stirling’s
heart was rejoiced by the reception of his first convert,
81
|)rospmlg anb (Srpansimt, 1879-1894
Dibaniso, the son of an old Pondomise coimcillor — first
the missionary’s plague and then his joy. Since then
others have followed this good example, and numbers
of Pondomise children are now in the mission schools.
Our Foreign Mission Secretary, at this station named
in his honour, found in 1892 “no fewer than six
hundred and fifty-nine members in full communion, and
two hundred and twenty-eight candidates under training ;
besides fifteen day-schools, with eighteen teachers and
five hundred and fifty-two scholars ” — and this in a
region as large as Forfarshire, in which a dozen years
before there was scarcely a Christian. There are five
paid evangelists, whose salaries are raised by the people ;
while every one of the twenty-six native elders is doing
the work of an evangelist. Nor must it be forgotten,
to the credit of Buchanan and its enterprising missionary,
that it in turn has become the parent of two new
stations — destined, it is hoped, to be leaders in the
coming time — Gillespie, among Jojo’s Xesibes, and the
Tina Mission, among Makaula’s Bacas.
The Buchanan district, forty miles square, is peopled
chiefly by Pondomise and Bacas ; but out of the thirty-
seven thousand of the population there is a good leaven
of six thousand Fingoes, with Basutos to the number of
three thousand. Among the numerous out-stations is
one at Botsabelo, among these Basutos, where the chief
Sofonio and his son are favourable, and the people have
built at their own cost a neat stone church.
Miller
Bomvanaland, to which the attention of the Church
was first called by Major Malan, who visited it in 1876,
is a tract of country stretching between the Bashee and
6
82 .$jjt Sdorn of our Jtaffnman P'isstoir
the Uinta ta, twenty-five or thirty miles from the coast,
north-east of Malan and south-west of the Sulenkama.
It was Kreli’s land of
exile, where in a wild
mountainous corner
“ among apes and
baboons,” as he said,
the old chief of four-
score years, sur-
rounded by tlie rem-
nant of his Galeka
warriors, mourned
tire loss of his right-
ful lands, with little
thought, alas, of fealty
due to his rightful
Lord. The neigh-
bouring missionaries, Messrs. Auld, Girdwood, and
Lundie, who explored it more than once, describe it
as a land “ well wooded, but not well watered — rough
and rugged ” ; though one of them deems it “ beautiful,”
and a country to be desired. Beautiful it was doubt-
less in the eyes of Dr. Soga, as a virgin sphere of
labour, no stated mission work having been attempted
within its borders till he took possession. The people,
who came from Pondoland more than a century ago,
number from twenty to thirty thousand, and are singular
among the Kaffir tribes in that they have never gone to
war with the white man.
Dr. William Anderson Soga, son of our first Kaffir
missionary, is the Church’s first resident missionary in
Bomvanaland. After a complete theological
and medical training in Scotland, he began
ixr 1886, as Mr. L undie’s substitute at Malan, the
83
fflrospfritg aitb fepattsioit, 1879-1894
work among his father’s countrymen to which he hacl
given himself in early youth. Leaving Malan in the
following year, with cheering fruits of spiritual increase,
Dr. Soga entered on his permanent field of labour.
There was here no Christian nucleus, not one Bomvana
convert, when the mission was begun in 1887. The
missionary went into the new field with two helpers
from Malan, a third, a Tembu, joined in the following
year : these three, with Dr. and Mrs. Soga and two
members of their household, were the sole representa-
tives of the United Presbyterian Mission in Bomvana-
land, when the first “roll” was made up at the opening
of the new church at Miller in 1888. A good site,
in the midst of a dense population, was granted by
Langa, the Bomvana chief ; and, on 4th November
1888, the church was opened amid great rejoicings.
The chief - paramount, Kreli, who always thought a
missionary a “ great responsibility,” was present with
Langa ; and the whole debt on the building was cleared
off by a collection extending over nearly three hours
and amounting to £100.
Langa declared on this occasion that, when the
missionary first came he did not want him, but now
accepted him, and that gladly. The will of the chief
being supreme, his friendliness at once gave Dr. Soga
free access to every village. Even more powerful in
his favour, among a people given over to superstition
and witchcraft, is the medical skill with which he is
endowed. The Kaffir believes in doctors. One old
gentleman at Malan indeed carried his faith in medicine
so far as to swallow in one comprehensive dose the half-
dozen powders which the young doctor had prescribed.
A dispensary of brick and iron has been erected at
Miller, and from a hundred miles round patients come
84 Ipljc ^iorjr of our Jlnffranatt jMbsiou
to put themselves into the hands of the first M.D. of
Kaffir blood. The earnestness that prompts to a journey
of a hundred miles, if not a fee, is a compliment to the
doctor, which can be appreciated only by those who have
travelled in lands beyond the Bashee. Of the five
thousand treated yearly, many patients hear of the
Great Physician who never sends any man empty away,
for Dr. Soga desires to give the foremost place to the
gospel message with which he is put in trust. Poor
Dll. W. A. SOGA’S HOME.
Chief Langa died the year after the opening of the new
■ church. The missionary was not allowed to see him at
the end, hut by request of the Regent Zwelibanzi has
undertaken the education of Kkomeni, the young heir.
Dr. Soga has twenty-one preaching places, and
cherishes a good hope regarding his difficult
A starnghoid pepp pt z’s a difficult field. “ A stronghold
of Satan,” one of the earlier missionaries calls
it. Kreli was willing to patronise the missionary, but
85
nub dhptmston, 1879-1894
not willing that his people should become Christians,
and “like chief, like people.” They are content with
their heathen ways. Education has no charm for them :
they are too ignorant to appreciate its potentialities.
After five years’ work one school is more than enough to
accommodate all young Bomvanaland. But a beginning
has been made, and the very difficulties of the Work
attract the strong resolute missionary. Amid the crowds
of red Kaffirs rvlio gathered to hear our Foreign Mission
Secretary on the occasion of his recent visit, were “ here
and there little groups of those who had already been
brought out of heathenism, and who, though recent
converts, are faithful and true.” The membership has
risen from seven to thirty, chiefly Bomvanas and
Galekas, some Fiugoes who have joined by certificate,
and a few Xesibes from Sidiki’s district, in which work
has lately been begun at the request of the chief and his
people. There are about as many candidates as members,
and signs of spiritual blessing are thankfully hailed by
the missionary and those who watch and pray by his
side. May the little leaven speedily leaven the whole
mass of superstition and worldliness by which it is
surrounded !
Our Bomvanaland station bears the name of “ Miller,”
after Robert Miller, a generous and large-hearted elder
of Claremont Church, Glasgow, who, in April 1893,
was suddenly, in midtime of his days, called to enter-
on the higher service.
Gillespie
Not the least remarkable advance was that made
in 1890 into the country of the Xesibes, thirty or fortjr
miles north-east of Buchanan. The Xesibe country
is a tract of fertile plain-land to the north of Pondoland.
86
®br Sdorg of onv Jlaffrarinn Pissicw
It forms part of Griqualand East, is peopled by some
12,000 heathen Kaffirs, and has been lately proclaimed
part of Cape Colony. So long ago as 1876 the chief Jojo,
a man of exceptional large-heartedness, had expressed a
desire to receive a missionary. Stragglers from the
south who called themselves Amaikristu, people of
Christ, had told the Xesibes something of Christianity,
and excited the desire to know more. Jojo appealed in
turn to the Wesleyans, the Free Church, and our own
mission, but in vain. Then came the Buchanan station,
with its missionary working up to his very borders. Mr.
Stirling, commissioned by the United Conference of
Presbyterian Missionaries, visited him and joined in his
appeals to the Church. At first the Mission Board, to
its regret, found itself unable to grant Jojo’s prayer ; but
some of our poorest people began to volunteer contribu-
tions, self-denial showed itself, enthusiasm was kindled,
and the students, once more coming to the help of the
Kaffrarian Mission, rolled away a reproach that threatened
to fall on our Church. When at the close of 1888 Mr.
Stirling carried the sad news to Jojo that we could not
respond to his request, “ Tell your white brothers,”
said the old man, with a faith and hope that would take
no denial, “ tell your white brothers that I look to them
for a missionary ; that I am waiting for him now.” In
the following year his face beamed with joy, when
the same missionary was able to assure him that his
appeal had prevailed; and on June 23, 1890, the Kev.
P. L. Hunter was installed as missionary to the Xesibes.
Jojo did not live long enough to see his tribe embrace
the gospel, but his “great wife,” his
The chief daughter, and a granddaughter were among
Jojo. 0 7 0 0 O
the fourteen converts gained through Mr.
Stirling’s preliminary visits. Jojo’s son and successor is
Prospmfg Emb fepustctr, 1879-1894 87
favourable, and the people lend an attentive ear.
“ Thirty-four have been received,” says Mr. Buchanan,
“ into full communion, and thirty are candidates.”
Schools have been opened, and services are held at six
different centres every Sabbath. Mrs. Hunter is at
work among the. women, “aiding her husband,” like a
true missionary’s wife, “ in winning the respect and
affection of the people.” Jojo always cherished a per-
sonal regard, for Mr. Hunter. He was reluctant to
let him settle in the Sulenkama, which he thought too
far away from his own place. “ His missionary was
to him like a young woman whom he loved and
wished to marry.” When he came to die, in April
1893, he sent for Mr. Hunter to pray with him; and
though he made no open confession of faith in Christ,
it Avould be difficult to believe that old Jojo died a
heathen. It was as a Christian they laid him to rest ;
the funeral service, by the special request of his family
and tribesmen, being conducted by Mr. Hunter, and
without any of the old heathen customs, a fit tribute to
the old chief who, rejoicing to see the gospel day afar
off, watched for its coming as those that watch for the
morning.
. Mr. Hunter’s report for 1893 speaks of a year of
steady if slow progress. A number of new members
have been received from the French Mission in Basuto-
land, bringing with them their evangelist, Jeremiah
Ntsie. New Sabbath schools have been opened at all the
stations ; and the day schools are making rapid progress.
Elders and evangelists are doing their work well. Two
mornings weekly are devoted to evangelistic services, the
preachers starting out at break of day, in summer about
five o’clock, and in winter about seven. The young-
chief, who was trained at Lovedale, took his place among
88 ®fjc ^forjT of our Jiaffrnrimt fission
the tribe in 1893, and is now a candidate for member-
ship.
Mount Frere
On the evening of Sabbath, 24th September 1893, the
Rev. John Henderson Soga was ordained in Morning-
side Church, Edinburgh, as a missionary to Kaffraria.
Born in the Emgwali manse, second son and second
KAFFIR WOMAN ON HORSEBACK.
missionary son of the Rev. Tiyo Soga, he thus returns
after a full university and theological curriculum in
Edinburgh, to take up his father’s work in the land of
his nativity and among his father’s people. When the
three Soga brothers first came to Scotland in 1870, in
one of the pathetic brooding letters their father wrote
commending them to the care of friends, he said, “ They
do not go to Scotland to seek a fortune. They go to Scot-
89
prosjimtg nnb dsrptmsion, 1879-1894
land for the benefit of Kaffraria. Tliey are needed here.”
Two of the three have already responded to this sacred
call. Side by side they stood in Morningside Church,
the elder brother giving the ordination charge to the
younger ; and side by side, God helping them, they are
to labour in that Kaffraria that has need of them — one
in Bomvanaland, and the other beyond the Tina River.
It was a great day when Mr. Soga crossed the Tina
drift, and entered his district for the first time. “ A
right royal surprise,” says Mr. Stirling, “awaited us,
for Htuta, the headman of Toleni location had sent some
forty horsemen to escort us to the Toleni. The welcome,
too, in the church on our arrival there, from headman
and people generally, was exceedingly cordial.” In
like manner, at Mount Frere and at the Mbonda, the
people seem to have taken this son of Soga to their
hearts.
On 14th December, the session of Buchanan met
at Lower Mkemane to welcome the young missionary
and induct him into the charge of the new district, now
disjoined from the immense territory till then under
Mr. Stirling’s charge. How greatly the work had
grown under his hands, appears in the fact that while
a district equally wide remains under Mr. Stirling’s
care, Mr. Soga enters on the work allocated to him with
a well-organised session of twelve elders, a member-
ship of three hundred and eighteen, and one hundred
and thirteen inquirers. He has the assistance of
two evangelists who are supported by the free-will
offerings of the people. Some half-dozen out-stations
are included in the broad lands over which he is
now installed between the Tina and the Umzimvubu
Rivers — Buchanan on one side and Gillespie on the
other. His fellow-students have engaged to raise the
90
Jetorg of our Jlaffrarinn Hfissiou
funds needed to equip the new station, and the whole
Church will follow him with the prayerful hope that he
may he richly blessed in the wide sphere and great
work which will demand and, we trust, reward all his
energies.
POUNDING MEALIES.
CHAPTER VI
THE PRESBYTERY OF ADELAIDE
The ministers and churches which constitute the Pres-
bytery of Adelaide are not only active helpers in our
mission, but form an integral part of it. As one of our
mission presbyteries they have their share in shaping
the policy and watching over the interests of our work
in South Africa. And though being so far independent
of home control they lose certain privileges which are
associated with subordination, their ministers remain
loyal sons of the Church that trained and sent them
forth, and their people are numbered among the thousands
of her Israel. It is natural then that the Church should
cherish an affectionate interest in all that concerns their
welfare. More especially must their isolated position
and largely missionary character appeal to our sympathy.
This mutual interest takes a very practical shape.
The Church has always regarded her presence in South
Africa as primarily, if not exclusively, intended to benefit
the native and helpless section of the community ; and
in the work to which she has been called all four
churches of the Presbytery are her earnest coadjutors.
They naturally form rallying centres for the Kaffir popu-
lation by which they are surrounded, and are a strength
to the native congregations associated with them. On
the other hand, we are happy to further their laudable
91
92
®bc Storji of onr Jtaffrarimr Hlbston
endeavour to maintain ordinances among themselves, by
making an annual grant towards the support of their
ministers, in acknowledgment of their unwearied service
in gathering and tending the Kaffir churches of which
they are the missionary overseers.
The complaint is sometimes made that Presbyterianism
is a failure in the colony, and the home churches are
blamed for preferring the interests of the Kaffirs to those
of their own countrymen. The Presbytery of Adelaide
has found a way of reconciling these interests to the
benefit of both. Here, indeed, lies the true foreign
mission work of the colonial Presbyterian churches ; and
the more heartily they engage in it the more surely do
they show themselves, not only worthy descendants of
the stock from which they sprang, but true members
of that spiritual Israel, the glory of whose sonsliip it
is to make salvation known.
Glenthorn congregation, the [oldest in either Presby-
tery, was formed in 1840 in the picturesque valley of
the Mankazana, where twenty years before
a little company of Scottish emigrants, hav-
ing said “ Farewell to bonnie Teviotdale and Scotia’s
mountains blue,” found a new home under the shadow
of the Winterberg, on lands reminding them of the
country from which they had come out, and which are
still held by their descendants. Thomas Pringle, their
own poet, describes the country as “ beautiful and
inviting, diversified with glens and mountains, rocks
and forests.” The church was built by a brother of the
poet ; and a worthy representative of the old Border
family on whose land it stands, continues the generous
traditions of Glenthorn. The other members of the
European congregation share Mr. Pringle’s sentiments ;
93
®Ijt |)rtsl>j)t£rg of §Vbcfaii>c
and, while contributing towards the maintenance of
ordinances among themselves, are ready to do all in their
power for the benefit of the natives around them.
Glenthorn is the centre of a mountainous and thinly-
peopled district, with a total population of only sixteen
hundred, of whom two hundred are Europeans. The
natives are of strangely - mingled descent. The usual
Sabbath congregation includes Kaffirs, Fingoes, Basutos,
Hottentots, Mozambiques, and mixed — a warm-hearted
and responsive company, with one heart, if many tongues.
After i\Ir. Cumming’s removal to the Emgwali, Mr.
Leslie and then Mr. Dewar had for a time charge of
Glenthorn. They were succeeded in 1874 by Mr.
Shearer, who, after an earnest ministry of twenty years,
was, early in 1894, to the deep regret of his attached
people and the Board, compelled by continued ill-health,
to retire from mission service. He leaves a European
congregation numbering thirty-four members, and a native
church of one hundred and fifty-seven, with four elders.
There are ten out-stations, one of them twenty-five miles
distant. Mr. Shearer has given much attention to the
young. The first Sabbath of the month is known as
“ children’s day,” when large numbers of little ones from
heathen kraals, as well as from Christian homes, come
to hear the Word of God.
A drive of twenty miles, and of two or more hours,
according to the nature of his vehicle and the quality of
his cattle, brings the traveller down the
Adelaide ^
well -watered, well -wooded valley of the
Mankazana, and across the Koonap drift to Adelaide.
Eleven times the road fords the mountain stream, up
which the Scottish settlers made their way in 1820.
The little town of Adelaide, beautifully situated, with
94
®bc ^torn of one Jlaffnuhm mission
hills on every side, is built round a broad “place” with
a grassy carpet, living green in spring, but of a more
sombre hue during the other months. It presents now
a scene of peaceful country life, whose people no longer
hear from the adjacent “ kloof,” as in former days, the
roar of the tiger, or of the more cruel dogs of war.
The European church was built in 1862, when Mr.
Peter Davidson began his fervent ministry here. The
members number only seventy, with four deacons, but
MULE WAGGON.
have always contributed the larger proportion of their
minister’s stipend. Mr. Davidson, after thirty years’
labour, having now retired from active duty, they
have undertaken the entire responsibility for the support
of his colleague and successor, Mr. Thomas Meikle, who,
on the 5th of November 1893, was ordained over them.
During all Mr. Davidson’s ministry he has carefully
tended the little native church which has grown up beside
his own. It now also numbers seventy members, with
95
ST-Jje |)n:sI}gtcrjT of ^brlaibr
a Sabbath school of sixty children. It is gratifying to
know that the European members are taking a yet more
active personal interest in their native brethren, and that
here also a spirit of prayer and revival is showing itself.
The Rev. John Dewar carried to the bracing upland
district of Tarkastad, with its picturesque flat-topped
mountains and gorgeous sunsets, the mission-
Taikastad. ary -which first led him to South Africa.
After his settlement in 1878, he speedily began work
among the Kaffirs, and has organised a native church at
Tarka, midway between Tarkastad and Glenthorn —
though with the great Winterberg Range towering be-
tween. Here, once a month, he ministers to a little
native congregation of thirty-eight members, whose three
elders conduct service on the intervening Sabbaths.
Mr. Dewar has a ready command of Kaffir, and along
with his Tarkastad and Tarka people is deeply interested
in the progress of the gospel among the natives. In his
mission charge he has the help of a band of zealous
elders, who diligently hold prayer meetings and candi-
dates’ classes throughout the district. The Sabbath
congregation includes Hottentots, half-castes, Basutos,
Fingoes, Gaikas, Galekas, Tembus. The service is con-
ducted in three languages, Mr. Dewar preaching part of
his sermon in Dutch and part in Kaffir, while a native
helper holds forth in the Sesutu. But sympathy and love
unite those whom language would keep apart. The Tarka
church is but a little one, but it is full of life and hope.
Somerset East, a town of two thousand inhabitants,
on the Little Fish River, marks the most
Someiset East. weg£er|y p0jn^ touched by the mission. Our
minister, the Rev. William Leith, formerly of Airth,
96 oTbc Sdorji of our Jlaffrartait Ulissioit
is active in work among the Kaffirs, having three
small native congregations at Somerset, Glenavon,
and Cookhouse, with a total membership of over
one hundred, including three elders. The church at
Glenavon was built by the late Mr. Hart, who be-
queathed it to the Somerset Church for mission
purposes. Mr. Leith has had to face special difficulties
at Somerset. The handsome church his people built in
1871, at a cost of £2000, was completely wrecked by a
storm in the following year, and had -to be rebuilt
— a heavy charge on a congregation numbering little
over sixty members. In his native work, too, he is tried
by the constant loss of members passing on to the
Transkei, that they may dwell among their own people.
But he is not left without encouragement, more especi-
ally when now and again he is cheered by the acces-
sion of red Kaffirs brought from darkness into light,
and by tokens of revival that have followed the prayers
in which he and his church abound.
CHAPTER Yit
AFTER THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY
In drawing to a close the story of these seventy-two
years, it seems natural to inquire what there is to show
for all this work and sacrifice — though, indeed, our
concern is with duty, not with results, with obedience
rather than with reward. Were there nothing to show,
we “can no other.”
Putting the last first it is evident that the gospel has
vastly improved the conditions of native life in South
Africa. The coloured man can no longer
cmiisesPel be treated as a mere beast of burden — the
“ creature,” as the old Dutch settlers called
him, is growing into the citizen. In a bitter colonial
proverb the missionary is classed with drought and the
native, as one of the three pests of South Africa ; but
where the missionary comes drought disappears, and
the native question finds its only adequate solution.
He it is who has taught the Kaffir — not only by precept
but by the far more effective means of example — the
value of irrigation and the use of tools ; to feel the need
for decent clothes ; to wield the pen and the spade
instead of the assegai; while in his hands the mission
station has become an object lesson of industry, progress,
and beauty which the dullest intelligence can apprehend.
Of two huts in the same kraal you may tell, before you
7
98
(T Ijc ^torjr of our Jtaffrariuu Ulission
cross the threshold, in which the heathen lives and in
which the Christian. Even the faces of the children
undergo a change for the better after a short time at
school. Any sense the Kaffir has gained of the dignity
of labour and the true beauty and meaning of woman-
hood, he owes to the Gospel, and the missionary who
brought it to his kraal.
HEATHEN HUT.
The colonist should be the last man to grudge the
money spent on missions. It is said that in 1820 all
the goods on sale at the yearly fair held at Fort
Wiltshire, then the only lawful trading post, could be
bought for £200. Kow, for every missionary pound
that goes across the Ivei, £100 comes back to benefit
colonial commerce. Lovedale alone has been a little
fortune to Cape Colony. Out of two thousand four
hundred and fifty-eight Kaffir pupils who had passed
through that institution up to 1889, there were known
99
Sifter (iljtee Quarters of a ifmfrun
to be sixteen ministers, twenty evangelists, three
hundred and seventy-six teachers, six lawyers, three
journalists, one thousand two hundred and thirteen in
various employments, two hundred and fourteen who
were employed as casual labourers, or were living at
home, while two hundred and forty-six were still at
Lovedale. Only fifteen had gone back to heathenism
CHRISTIAN HUT.
Of one thousand six hundred of the lads only one had
come before Commissioner Brownlee for the national sin
of horse-stealing. You may find them as pastors and
teachers, as policemen and interpreters, but not as rogues
and vagabonds. “ Xot a penny,” says Mr. Brownlee,
“ has been paid by the Cape Government for Kaffir
■education which has not been repaid by the Kaffirs
themselves, with interest and compound interest.” The
value the Kaffirs put on education may be seen in the
fact that during the fourteen years ending with 1888,
they paid in fees at Lovedale alone £14,554.
100
She J5t.org of our Jinffmrmr Iflission
The Commission appointed by the Cape Govern-
ment in 1883 to inquire into the condition of the
native tribes, have put on record conclusive testimony
to the value of missions. Composed of members of
the Colonial Legislature, magistrates, and others, — with
only one missionary, — and presided over by the Judge
President, the Commission unanimously reported
that—
“ Among the most powerful of the beneficent forces
operating at present on the native tribes are the various
Christian missions. The influence of these agencies
in raising the natives, both morally and industrially, in
their standing as men, cannot be over-stated. It is a
sincere gratification, therefore, to the Commission to be
able to bear its unanimous testimony to the high opinion
formed both from hearsay and from personal observation
and experience, of the good which is being effected,
morally, educationally, and industrially, by Christian
missionaries among the native population.”
But the great object of the missionary is not to
civilise men, but to beseech them in Christ’s stead to be-
reconciled to God. For this end he gives.
J“mg °f them first of all the Divine Book, which
contains his own credentials, and those glad
tidings of which he is the herald.
As early as 1823 the Lord’s Prayer had been printed
at the Chumie, on the small hand-press brought out by
Mr. Ross. The great missionary petitions — “ Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven,” thus early made-
their way into the Kaffir tongue. Mr. Brownlee trans-
lated St. Matthew’s Gospel, and Mr. Thomson that of
St. John, and some of the Epistles. While it was thus
Presbyterian missionaries who took the first steps in this.
Sifter (T (tree (Quarters of a (f euturir
101
work, it was the AVesleyans who produced the first com-
plete translation of Holy Scripture in the Kaffir tongue.
They reported the fact in 1844, and were immediately
authorised to print an edition on behalf of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. From five to six thousand
Kaffirs were said to be able to read. By 1850 the first
edition of the New Testament had been exhausted, and
another of five thousand copies was put to press.
In 1868 Mr. Appleyard’s version was submitted to a
board of revisers, comprising seven missionaries, and
representing all the denominations interested. Tiyo
Soga, and after his death Air. John A. Chalmers, took an
influential part in this great work, which was completed
in 1887. The issue of a new and final revised edition
is now contemplated.
Thus has the Kaffir, who a century ago had no
written language, received the inestimable boon of the
AVnrd of God in his own tongue, and in printed form —
Holy Scripture becoming in his case, as often before,
the foundation of a new national literature, and the
statute-book and charter of a Church, which, but for
its message and command, would never have been
born.
These three quarters of a century have witnessed the
foundation and upbuilding of a Kaffir Church : and it is
not an easy thing for a red Kaffir to become
Church^ a Christian. He must be prepared to part
with the traditions of his fathers, and the
pleasures and honours of his little world ; to take
patiently the spoiling of his goods, to suffer the loss of
all he holds dear. But the South African Missions,
and our own among them, have been familiar from the
outset with such triumphs of Divine grace.
The membership of our South African congrega-
10- (Ll)c ^torir of our Jtaffrariim Passion
tii ms, in 1871 one tliousancl and forty-four, is now
tliree thousand three hundred and eleven, and is
steadily increasing year by year. Members are admitted
only after close scrutiny and long probation. Imper-
fection and immaturity are, indeed, still to be found in
REV. JOHN A. CHALMERS.
the Kaffir Church — the old leaven of heathenism is not
easily purged out — but there is much to reward the
patience of the missionary, and to renew his zeal. A
Christian community is growing up. The Bible is
becoming the common possession of the homes of the
jAfter Cfjm Gjhuulcrs of a (S' enturn
103
people ; there is a growing delight in prayer ; family
worship is more generally observed, and the sanctuary
loved, where seventy years ago there was neither
sanctuary nor home.
In the grace of liberality not a few of us would seem
to come behind our fellow-members in Kaffirland.
“ Take this piece of money,” said a poor Paterson
woman to Mr. Carstairs in 1883, handing him a florin,
“ that you may buy yourselves a little bread should you
be hungry in your journey ” ; and on the morning of
the same Communion Sabbath the Incisininde people
had sent a messenger twenty miles with a letter enclos-
ing £1, 14s. 3d. to buy water for the deputies, lest they'
should thirst by the way. When the children at
Buchanan heard of the death of Dr. Eae, of Old Cala-
bar, and the sad home-coming of his young widow, they
relieved their feelings byr a collection towards the cost
of the Porteous-Kae launch, — a collection not in coin,
for they had none, but in kind, — some of them giving
their little all, and with all their heart. At some
stations the people pay the salaries of their evangelists
and teachers, and provide for all ordinary expenses ;
and at all there is a manly effort towards self-support.
At the Lower Xolobe a new stone church was opened
in 1893. It cost £110, and the people, few in number
but large in heart, wiped off the debt in one day. It is
the third place of worship built at their cost. Two-
thirds of the expexrse of building the Transkei churches
have been borne by the native Christians. When that
of Esigubudweni was opened in 1887, the people had to
be restrained from giving — the only instance of the
kind, it is believed, that has occurred since the days of
Moses. When Blythswood, the Transkei Lovedale, was
built, the Lingoes taxed themselves, three times over,
104
(The Storn of out Jiaffrartmt Mission
five shillings per man, and contributed, first and last, no
less than £4600 as their quota of the cost.
If -\ve would form any just estimate either of the
difficulties or the successes of our Kaffrarian Mission,
tribal conditions must he kept in view.
Conditions While in language, manners, and customs
the Kaffir tribes differ hut little front one
another, they are far from having the same mental and
moral characteristics. The warlike haughty Gaikas and
Galekas, though among the first to come in contact with
the Gospel, have been as a whole among the last to
accept it. On them Christianity and civilisation make
little impression, while both quickly lay hold of the
Fingoes. These are naturally a peacedoving, industrious,
commercial people. They appreciate the advantages of
education, and their children crowd to school. The
largest and most successful of our mission stations are
composed chiefly of this progressive tribe, who, indeed,
constitute the majority of our members. Dr. W. A. Soga
affirms that “the future of the Kaffir race lies with
the Fingoes.”
These differences in tribal conditions, which have
shown themselves throughout this narrative, must be
emphasised if tve would estimate rightly the difficulties
with which some of our missionaries have to contend.
There are, however, probably few of us who have not
learned by experience how rash it is to determine from
statistics what may be success or failure in Christian work.
There is doubtless much yet to be done for these
infant churches, as well as by them, in the education of
the young, in supplying a literature for the
Much yet to j.eacjincr generations that are to come, in
be done. ° 7
perfecting the spirit of independence and
self-support, in training native evangelists and pastors.
105
gftcr (Three (Quarters of a (T enter ry
The Kaffir Church must have its own Kaffir ministry.
The people call for it, and the home Church must see
that it is supplied. That there is good material to
work upon none will doubt who have seen a Kaffir
evangelist in presence of a native audience, or have sat
with a Kaffir session till they thought themselves in a
more eloquent, but not less shrewd and solid Scotland.
There are Sogas still to come — men like John Ktintilli,
■one of the Emgwali Fingoes who crossed the Kei with
Mr. Sclater in 1876, and whose story Mrs. Forsyth has
just told to the Church. It is worth repeating here,
however briefly. John settled at Mbulu Ktveza, of
I oc>
(The ^torir of our Jkffrarinn Mission
A\ Iiicli congregation lie was made an elder. He approved
himself as a man of God, whose hands were clean,
whose heart was pure : a man of eloquence and sound
.judgment — qualities which do not always run in couples.
The heathen name for him was Inyaniso — truth. He-
had the habit of evangelising from kraal to kraal, and
“ wherever lie went,” said a hardened old heathen, “the
word of God went with him.” Mr. Davidson, his
missionary, calls him a Valiant-for-the-Truth, “quiet,,
gentle, shrewd, doughty, fascinating, and lovable in all
his ways.” John Ntintilli fell asleep on 13th July,.
1893, with the loved name of his Master on his lips — -
“Jesus, Jesus ! ” He is not the last of his kind.
Within these limits it has been necessary to keep-
strictly to the story of our own Mission. But we are-
glad to know that it is only one among
workers many workers for Christ in Kaffraria. Fifty
years before Carey’s day, on March 31,
1742, George Schmidt, the pioneer Moravian missionary
to South Africa, baptized his first Hottentot convert at
Bavianskloof ; and in the century and a half that has
followed, the Moravian brethren have continued to-
show the way. It is a privilege to be associated with
this early missionary church, and with those who have
followed where it began — with the London Missionary
Society, and its immortal memories of Moffat and!
Livingstone ; with the Wesleyan South African Mis-
sionary Society, and its exemplary development of
native agency and local activity, which we are only
beginning to imitate; with the Dutch Church of South
Africa, now happily doing good service in the mission
field ; and with the many other fellow-workers whom
the love of Christ has drawn hither from the Continent
of Europe, and even from the United States of America-
107
giftcr (Time Quarters of a Cenfunj
ire stand, on terms of vet closer fellowship with our
brethren of the Free Church of Scotland. We gladly
recognise the value of their great educational institutions
of Lovedale and Blytliswood — by both of which our
mission has largely benefited — while it is not as two but
as one that we labour, side by side and shoulder to
shoulder on the open field. Our missions sprang from
the same source, and it will not be our fault if they do
not soon run again in one, and that a broader and
deeper channel.
THE TSITSA FALLS.
CHAPTER VIII
THE CALL TO GO FORWARD
Regions
beyond.
It is estimated that some eighty-one thousand converts
gathered out of heathenism, now form the centre of a
Christian community in South Africa of
upwards of three hundred thousand souls.
This is a good beginning ; but only a begin-
ning in view of what remains to be done. The great
Powers of Europe have lately been busy in apportioning
Africa among themselves — Great Britain, it is said, now
owns twenty-five hundred thousand of its square miles
— but the whole of it was long ago given to Christ, and
it is more than time His Church took possession of it in
His name. Let us not think it enough that Kaffraria is
open, and that we are, so far, doing our part in planting
it bit by bit with mission stations. The Kaffir Church
belongs to a great continent, and must prepare herself
for a great future. Her face is towards the north from
which her people came ; and to every tribe on the way
she must carry back the gospel she has found. This is
the enterprise towards which South African missions
have been led through all these years of trial and of
service — an enterprise which may well unite the
energies of every missionary, of every Kaffir convert, and
no less of every minister and church member in the
colony. The power of the witch-doctor is fading before
®be (£aU to dsio Jbrfoarb
109
the skill and tenderness of the medical missionary ; the
tribes are shaking themselves free from the iron rule of
their chiefs ; the attraction of the Cross is drawing them
to the Saviour ; the regions beyond invite His approach.
We dare neither leave the Dark Continent without the
Light, nor trust it to the tender mercies of a commercial
civilisation, whose chief care is to make its market at
whatever cost, whose traffic in drink floods the Kaffir
country! with the red man’s ruin. The Gospel is the
one hope for Africa, as for the world. It is a hope of
which we do not need to be ashamed. Slowly, it may
be, but surely, it is doing its proper work in Kaffraria —
bringing a new gladness into the heart of the little
children, raising woman to her rightful place, healing
the broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, setting at liberty
them that are bruised, preaching the acceptable year
of the Lord. “When the word of God came among
us,” a Kaffir chief declared in 1836, “we were like
the wild beasts, we knew nothing — nothing but war
and bloodshed. Everyone was against his neighbour,
each man tried to destroy his brother. The word
of God has turned us, has brought us peace, has recon-
ciled one man to another ; and in us is fulfilled the
Scripture, ‘ The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.’ ”
Turning for a moment ere the “ story ” ends to those
who have done the work of which it tries to tell, we
recall the memories of many both on the field and at
home — members of the old praying societies who were
among the first contributors ; godly women not a few
who had the interests of the Emgwali school laid on
their hearts ; fathers and elders of the Church, who,
amid difficulty and discouragement, never wearied in
work, in gift, in prayer, on behalf of a mission they
110 f be §torji of our Jiaffraumi mission
looked on as peculiarly their own — such memories smell
sweet and blossom in the dusty archives of the past !
'While obliged to chronicle the fact that some of our
missionaries have thought it dutiful to leave the field
for spheres of labour in the colony and at home, we
cannot but acknowledge their good service while they
were with us, and the love they bore and still bear
to the Church from which they received their first com-
KAFFIll WOMEN.
mission. Mr. Johnston, Mr. Sclater, and Mr. Dewar
are still missionaries at heart ; and if ever there was
•one who loved the Kaffir race and did his utmost to
•elevate and save it, it was he at whose grave in June of
1888 there mourned with us not Grahamstown only,
hut all that was best in the colony that counted John
A. Chalmers among its worthiest sons.
A long succession of missionary heroes links together
these generations of conflict, of toil, of watching, of
(ilj£ (fall to #o cjforfcoarb
111
prayer, of rejoicing mixed with tears. The vegetation
of South Africa is famous for its thorny qualities, and
it has sometimes seemed as if the spiky mimosa and
hook-like “ wait-a-bit ” had penetrated also into mission
work ; but now instead of the thorn is coming up the
fir tree, and instead of the brier the myrtle tree, and
the Kaffir baum is putting on its blossom, in token of a
better spring. The message carried by those of whom
these pages tell has been one of unmingled blessing.
They suffered, but never made others suffer — strong
men who wore out their lives in this glad service —
tender women who with equal courage ministered by
their side. Their names, household words round the
fires of Kaffir kraals, are graven on the hands which
Ethiopia is stretching forth to God.
And while we build the sepulchres of the fathers, let
us not forget to honour those who now fill their places ;
some of them sons of the dead, all imbued with their
spirit, and working towards the same Divine purpose.
IVe seek more fully to bear their burden, more lovingly
to sympathise with them in the wearing isolation and
heathenism amid which their lives are spent, to have
them more in our hearts and prayers, by the grace of God
to imitate their faith and patience, and to be more helpful
fellow-labourers with them in the time to come. The
Church that in this spirit goes forth with Christ’s
messengers, shares both their work and their reward.
Her poor efforts come back to her in new power, her
prayers in blessing, her money in the imperishable
riches — even her beloved dead she receives raised to life
again.
APPENDIX
I. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 01-' THE KAFFRARIAN
MISSION 1
148(5.
1497.
1652.
1685.
1740.
1795.
Bartholomew Diaz discovers the Cape of Good Hope.
Portugal claims the Cape.
Arrival of the Dutch.
Settlement of French Huguenots.
The Dutch and Kaffirs cross swords.
First British Protectorate.
1796.
1811.
1815.
1819.
1820.
Glasgow Missionary Society founded.
First Kaffir War.
Cape Colony ceded to Great Britain.
Second Kaffir War.
Arrival of live thousand British settlers.
1821. Nov.
Chumie Mission founded by Rev. John Brown-
lee of the London Missionary Society.
Rev. W. R. Thomson and Mr. John Bennie arrive
at the Chumie.
1823. Bee.
Arrival of Rev. John Ross. Baptism of the first
converts in South Africa.
1824. Jan.
1. First Presbytery formed.
Ncera station opened by Rev. John Ross anti Mr.
Bennie.
1827.
1828.
Mr. William Chalmers arrives at the Chumie.
Station opened at Balfour.
1829. Sept. 28. New church opened at the Chumie.
1830. Stations opened at 'Burnshill and Pine. Mr.
Thomson accepts call to Balfour.
1 Prepared by the Rev. John Moore, B. I ). . Old Meldrum.
8
114
1833.
1834.
1836.
1837.
1839.
1840.
1842.
1844.
1846.
1847.
1848.
1849.
1850.
5 5
1851.
1852.
1 853.
1S54.
1855.
1856.
^ppcnbh-
Slavery abolished in Cape Colony.
Third Kaffir War.
Mr. Chalmers receives ordination.
Rev. Robert Niven opens station at Igquibiglia.
Glasgow Missionary Society divided by the Voluntary
Controversy. Formation of Glasgow African Mission-
ary Society ; Rev. W. Chalmers and Rev. Robert
Niven recognised as its agents.
Ladies’ Auxiliary formed.
Glentliorn station opened by Rev. J. F. Cunnniug.
Miss M'Laren begins teaching at Igquibiglia.
First converts at Igquibiglia.
Free Church of Scotland takes over work of the
Glasgow Missionary Society.
First translation of the Kaffir Scriptures completed
by Wesleyan Missionaries.
War of the Axe.
Miss M‘Laren resigns.
Cliumie and Igquibiglia stations destroyed.
Feb. 8. Death of Rev. William Chalmers at Glentliorn.
Feb. 21. Rev. J. F. Cumming resumes work at the Cliumie.
Tiyo Soga conies to Scotland.
May Union of the Secession and Relief Churches.
Katt'rarian Mission adopted by the United Presby-
terian Church.
Nov. Rev. R. Niven resumes work at Igquibiglia.
Tiyo Soga baptized in .John Street Church, Glasgow.
Rev. R. Niven removed to Uniondale, with Tiyo Soga
as catechist and teacher.
Rev. Henry Renton, of Kelso, visits the Mission as
Synod Deputy.
Dec. 24. Outbreak of the Fiftli Kaffir War. Igquibiglia and
Uniondale Stations destroyed.
Jan. 5. Last observance of the Lord’s Supper at the
Cliumie.
Fell. Cliumie Station abandoned.
Tiyo Soga returns to Scotland with the missionaries.
Scattered converts find shelter at Peelton.
Close of the War, and return to Kalfraria of Rev..
R. Niven and Rev. J. F. Cumming.
Mr. Cumming resumes work at Glentliorn.
Mr. Niven accepts call to Maryhill, near Glasgow.
Glentliorn church constituted.
The cattle-killing delusion.
3lpptitim‘
iis
1857.
1858. April 18.
1859. April 3,
,, Oct.
1861. July 29.
,, Nov.
,, Dec. 9.
1862. April 19.
June 15.
1863.
1864.
1S65.
1866.
1867.
1867.
1868.
1869.
Feb. 1.
Nov.
Dec. 25.
Aug.
April
Aug. 4.
Dec. 29.
June.
May.
1870. May.
1871.
April 16.
Aug. 12.
Bmgwali Mission settled by Rev. Tiyo Soga and Rev.
Robert Johnston.
The surviving converts gather round them.
First Emgwali church opened ; and first observance
there of the Lord's Supper.
First converts received at Emgwali.
Rev. R. Johnston accepts a call to Grahamstown.
Foundation stone of present Emgwali church laid.
Rev. John A. Chalmers settled at Emgwali.
Girls’ School opened there by Miss Ogilvie.
Adelaide congregation formed.
Death of Mrs. J. A. Chalmers at the Emgwali.
New church opened at Emgwali.
Rev. Peter Davidson, formerly of Brechin, settled at
Adelaide.
Rev. James Davidson settled at King William’s Town.
Henderson station opened by Rev. J. A. Chalmers.
Rev. John Sclater and Miss Selater reach Emgwali.
First baptism and observance of the Lord’s Supper at
Henderson.
Fingoland settled.
Mbulu station begun.
Rev. John Selater transferred to Mbulu, now called
Paterson.
Tutura opened by Rev. Tiyo Soga.
Rev. James Davidson appointed to the Emgwali.
New church opened at Henderson.
Rev. Wm. Girdwood (formerly of Penicuik and Perth)
joins the mission.
Death of Mrs. Girdwood at King William’s Town.
The Lord’s Supper first observed at Paterson.
Rev. Tiyo Soga with Rev. Wm. Girdwood transferred
to Tutura.
Rev. J. F. Cumming removed to Emgwali.
Rev. Robert S. Leslie settled at Henderson.
Quolora opened by Mr. Girdwood.
Elujilo opened by Mr. James Davidson.
Congregation at Somerset East formed under Rev.
William Leith, formerly of Airth.
Mr. Leslie transferred to Glenthorn.
Adelaide adopted as a mission station.
Mission Presbytery formed.
New church opened at Tutura.
Death of Rev. Tiyo Soga at Tutura, in his 42nd year.
11C)
^jlprnbiy
1872.
,, Aug.
1873.
1874.
New church opened at Paterson.
Mr. Leslie transferred to Tutura.
Rev. John Dewar arrives at Glenthorn.
Mr. Dewar settled at Quolora.
Rev. Thomas Shearer settled at Glenthorn.
1875.
Major Malan takes temporary charge of Paterson.
Uxolo opened by Major Malan, with Mr. Quince R.
Noble and Mr. E. S. Clarke as teachers.
Resignation of Mr. Clarke, and settlement of Mr.
C. S. Lundall at Uxolo.
1876.
Rev. John Sclater accepts call to Coupland Street
Church, Manchester.
Transference of Rev. Jas. Davidson from Elujilo to
Paterson.
Publication of Revised Kallir New Testament.
Rev. John A. Chalmers accepts call to Grahamstown.
Station at Glenavon, Somerset East, connected with
the mission.
1877. Aug.
Outbreak of the Sixth Kaffir War. Abandonment of
stations at Somerville, Quolora, Uxolo, Elujilo, and
Henderson.
Rev. John Lundie arrives at Glenthorn.
1878.
Mr. Quince R. Noble removes to Jamaica.
Rev. John Dewar accepts call to Tarkastad and Tarka.
,, April 28. Death of Rev. R. S. Leslie at Emgwali.
1879. Rev. James M. Auld opens new station of Columba.
1880.
Resignation of Miss Ogilvie and settlement of Miss
M ‘Ritchie as superintendent of Girls’ School at
Emgwali.
., Aug. i
1881.
6. Opening of new church at Columba.
Paterson church and school destroyed by lightning.
,, Dee. Opening of new station at Malan by Rev. John Lundie.
1882. Aug. 1. New church opened at Paterson.
,, Oct. Rev. John W. Stirling settled as colleague at Emgwali.
1883. May- Mission station visited by Synod Deputies, Rev. G. L.
Sept. Carst.airs and Mr. David Corsar, with Mr. Win. J.
Slowan.
1884. Mar. 19. Opening of new Girls’ School at Emgwali.
,, Sept. Rev. Alex. Welsh arrives at Paterson.
1885.
, , Oct.
1886.
Resumption of work at Tutura by Zaze Soga.
Reopening of station at Tutura by Rev. Wm. Girdwood.
Rev. Wm. Anderson Soga, M.B., C.M., reaches Malan.
Opening of new station at Buchanan (in theSnlenkama
Valley) by Rev. J. W. Stirling.
117
1886.
„ Dec. 8.
1887. Oct. 14.
,, Dec.
1888. June 1.
,, Nov. 4.
1839.
1890. June 23.
„ June 29.
1892. Feb. 2.
,, July-
Sept.
1893. Nov. 5.
Dec. 14.
^jjjicnbiv
Rev. J. F. Gumming retires from active service.
Settlement of Rev. Alex. Welsh at Emgwali.
Mrs. Forsyth (unsalaried agent) appointed to Xolobe,
Paterson.
Death of Mrs. Chalmers, widow of Rev. Wm.
Chalmers (Chumie), at Alice.
Opening of new station at Miller, Bomvanaland, by
Rev. Dr. Wm. A. Soga.
Resignation of Miss M‘ Ritchie, and appointment of
Miss Hope, as superintendent of Girls’ School,
Emgwali.
Death of Rev. John A. Chalmers (formerly of Hender-
son) at Grahamstown.
Opening of new church at Miller.
Jubilee of Rev. J. F. Cumming.
Rev. Peter L. Hunter, M.A. opens new station at
Xesibe.
Opening of new church at Malan.
Division of Kaffrarian Presbytery into the Presbytery
of Adelaide, consisting of Glenthorn, Adelaide,
Tarkastad, and Somerset ; and Presbytery of
Kaffraria, consistingof Emgwali, Paterson, C'olumba,
Malan, Tutura, Buchanan, Miller, and Xesibe.
Death of the Kaffir Chief Kreli.
Rev. Jas. Buchanan, Foreign Mission Secretary,
visits the Mission as Synod Deputy.
Rev. Thomas Meikle ordained Colleague at Adelaide.
Rev. John Henderson Soga settled in district of Mount
Frere.
Rev. Thomas Shearer resigns his charge at Glenthorn.
1894.
118
^ppcnbiv
II. STATIONS AND AGENTS
(Presbytery of Kaffraria)
Stations.
Station
founded.
Missionaries.
Emgwali,
1857
( Rev. J. F. Gumming.
( „ Alex. Welsh.
Paterson,
1868
„ James David-
son.
Columba,
1878
,, Jas. M. Auld
Malan, .
1875
,, John Luxdie,
m.a.
Tutura,
1885
,, William
Girdwood.
I ,, John W. Stir-
Buchanan. .
1886
1 LING.
1 ,, J. Henderson
| Soga.
Miller, .
1SSS
,, William A.
Soga, M.D.
Gillespie,
1889
,, P. L. Hunter
M.A.
Native Catechists
and Evangelists.
j- Mpiui Nonjiba.
(Janies Qamana,
Elijah Dezi, Dak-
( wana.
(Faniso Bukani, Zi-
manleVuso, Ndi-
( lele Maggabi.
(William Nombalo,
) Fumbalela Nei-
i vata, James Ko-
( boka.
( Lot Rliai, Micah,
' Zaze Soga, Wee-
) nan Balfour, John
( Matimba.
f James Kaziwa,
Mofu Dunga, Ma-
) sebeni Lusaseni,
I Geo. January,
Johannes Mbuqe,
Maliwa Ntlati.
j GasaMbilnla, Konj-
wayoMzazi.Doni-
so Kweza, Mzwa-
| kili Haui, Wil-
liam Booy.
r James Bottoman.
I Barnabas Sopete,
I Labelwana Mkle-
i k wa, J osiali Man-
coba, Jeremiah
1 Ntsie.
Presbytery of Adelaide.
Glenthorn, .
1840
Rev. Thomas
Shearer.
(' ,, Peter Davtd-
Adelaide,
1861
) SON.
j ,, * Thomas
( Meikle.
Tarkastad, .
1878
,, * John Dewar,
M.A.
Somerset,
1869
,, *Wm. Leith.
Plaatye Slinger,
-William Plaatges.
Daniel Vandala.
* These are ministers of English - speaking congregations, and
receive an allowance from the Board for doing mission work among
the native population.
III. P E RSONAL STATISTICS
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MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
MISSION MAP OF KAFFRARIA
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■TAm B«rtl»riTnmOTr& Co~
^Missions of the
United Presbyterian Church
THE STORY OF
THE RAJPUTANA MISSION
BY
Rev. JOHN ROBSON, D.D.
(BiitttlJttrjjIr
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1894
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS,
EDINBURGH
PREFACE
— * —
In writing the following narrative of our Mission to
Rajputana, I have felt both the advantage and dis-
advantage of my special relation to it. Having been for
the first twelve years of its history one of its agents, and
during the latter years a minister of the Home Church,
I have had personal experience both of the work there
and of the controversies regarding it at home. This has
enabled me to see the points on which the Home Church
needs to be informed, but it has made it less easy to
present a narrative as interesting as if there had been
less multiplicity of details. The environment of our
Rajputana Mission is from its complexity very difficult
to understand, and yet needs to he understood if we
would appreciate the work of the Mission. The old
civilisation of the land, with its hoary religions, its
pantheistic basis, and its inexorable caste rules — the
presence of the English Government, with its religious
neutrality, its educational system, and its disintegrating
effect on old beliefs — the internal independence of the
native states among which we are working, their history
and their relation to the supreme Government, are some
of the factors that must be taken into account if we
would understand the work our missionaries have to do.
These I have sought to present to the reader along with
5
6
|kcfaxt
a narrative of the Mission as full as space would allow.
I hope that these pages will enable the Church at
home to appreciate something of the vastness of our
field in India, and follow with interest the work of our
missionaries there.
For the Appendix containing the Annals of our Indian
Mission, I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Moore of Old
Meldrum ; and for correcting the same up to date and
revising the proofs, to Messrs. Ashcroft and Martin of
Rajputana.
John Robson.
Aberdeen, September 1894.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
PREFACE . . ... 5
RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION OF HINLII NAMES . 8
HINDI WORDS AND SUFFIXES ... 8
I. INDIA : ITS RACES, RELIGIONS, AND MISSIONS . 9
II. THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION : ITS ORIGIN
AND FIELD — APPENDIX TO CHAP. II., DIVISIONS
AND STATISTICS OF RAJPUT AN A . . .19
III. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE MISSION — FIRST PERIOD
— FAMINE OF 1868-70 — ORPHANS . . 34
IV. GENERAL HISTORY OF THE MISSION — SECOND AND
THIRD PERIODS— ZENANA MISSION . . 44
V. METHODS OF WORK — APPENDIX TO CHAP. V.,
CLASSIFICATION OF METHODS . . .51
VI. HISTORY OF DIFFERENT STATIONS — BRITISH DIS-
TRICT : MERVVARA ; BEAWAR, TODGARH . . 62
vii. British district continued — AJMER, nasirabad
AND ASHAPURA, DEOLI . . . .75
VIII. MISSIONS IN NATIVE STATES — JAIPUR, UDAIPUR . 96
ix. missions in native states continued — ALWAR,
JODHPUR, KOTAH . . . . .112
X. RESULTS AND PROSPECTS .... 125
APPENDIX — ANNALS OF INDIAN MISSION . . 131
7
KULES FOE THE PRONUNCIATION OF
HINDI NAMES
1. Vowels
Short.
a, pronounced as “u” in “but.”
e, „ ,, “e” in “prey.”
i, ,, ,, “i” in “pin.”
o, ,, ,, “o” in “note.”
u, ,, ,, “u” in “put.”
Long.
a, pronoupced as “a” in “star.”
ai, ,, ,, “i” in “high.’
i, ,, ,, “ee”in“meet.’
au, ,, ,, “ow”in“how.:
u, „ ,, “u” in “rule.1
2. Consonants
The consonants are pronounced much as in English: “g” is always
hard, as in “go.”
A dot below d, t, or r indicates that they are pronounced from the
roof of the mouth ; without it, they are pronounced from the teeth.
Hindi Words and Suffixes
Abdd, town or city ; as Naslrabad.
Garh, a fort ; as Kishangarh.
Ghar, a house.
Guru, a spiritual guide.
Jati, a priest of the Jain religion.
Ji, a title of respect.
Maha, great ; as Maharajah (great Icing).
Mandl, market ; as Dhan Mandl (grain market).
Mer, a hill ; as Ajmer (Invincible Hill) ; a liillman.
Munshi, a teacher of Urdu or Persian.
Nagar, a town ; as Naya Nagar, new town.
Pandit, a Hindi teacher or learned man.
Panth , a sect.
Pardah, a curtain.
Pir, a Mohammedan saint.
Pur, a city ; as Jaipur.
Purd, a village ; as Erinpurd.
Put, a son ; as Rajput.
Raj, reign, kingdom, rule.
Rajah, a king.
Rdo, a petty chief.
Sdgar, a sea or lake ; as And Sugar.
Samaj, church, assembly ; as Brahma Samaj.
Taldo (for Talab), an artificial lake.
War, a country ; as Meivar.
Ward, a district ; as Merward.
Zan, a woman.
Zanana, women’s apartments.
8
THE STORY OF THE RAJPUTANA
MISSION
— * —
CHAPTER I
INDIA : ITS RACES, RELIGIONS, AND MISSIONS.
§ 1. To the south of Asia lies the vast peninsula of
India. It is in size a continent, extending about 1900
miles from north to south, and 1600 from
India: its size eag^ £0 west an(j containing about 1,350,000
square miles, exclusive of Burmah. In
its position it is secluded from the rest of the
world, its south-eastern and south-western sides being
swept by the ocean, and its northern guarded by the
Himalaya mountains, the highest in the world.
§ 2. Its population at the census of 1891 was 288
millions, having increased about 30 millions in ten
years. This population consists not of one
Population race al0ne, but of a number of races. About
India. 106 different languages are spoken in
the peninsula ; and these represent about
as many different nationalities, living not necessarily
apart, but through or alongside of one another. The
earliest inhabitants were probably the Kolarians. They
9
10
®be Sfoi’n of the mpntmia $pssicit
Kolarians.
Dravidians.
seem to have entered India from the north-east, and
are represented by the Kols, Bhlls, Gonds,
Minas, and others, now all known as Hill
Tribes, from being found chiefly among the hills. They
are still in a comparatively savage state, and use the
spear and the how. Then came another race of a higher
civilisation, called the Dravidian, apparently of a Scythic
stock. They entered India by the north-
west, but are now found almost exclusively
in the south — the Tamil, Telugu, and Canarese being the
principal varieties. The Aryas entered India after them,
but not later than 1200 b.c. They are of
the same stock as the Persians, Greeks, and
most nations of Europe. It is uncertain whether their
original abode was the plains of Central Europe or the
highlands of Central Asia, but it is certain that from
the latter they made their way into the Panjab, and
gradually spread over all India, driving the Dravidians
before them to the south, and the Ivolarians to the hills.
They are the ancestors of the Brahmans, Eajputs, and
most of the mercantile and agricultural castes of India ;
and they had imposed their religion on the greater part
of the population before the Mohammedan invasion took
place.
§ 3. The Mohammedans made their first conquests in
India at the close of the eleventh century. Afghans,
Pathans, and Moghuls in successive invasions
spread these conquests farther and farther,
till at the close of the sixteenth century their
sway, though not their religion, was established over the
whole peninsula. The Moghul Empire, as it was called,
maintained its sway for upwards of a hundred years ;
but at the beginning of last century it began to break
up. A number of predatory kingdoms arose, continually
Mohammedan
conquest.
fnirra: its |lam, Religions, anir fissions 11
at war with one another, by which India was periodically
devastated. In the midst of this, a company of English
traders, called the East India Company, that had
established factories or agencies in various
Bntisl1 parts of the coast in the seventeenth century,
conquest. r
began to form alliances in its own interest
with some of the belligerent states. These led to wars,
and then to conquests, till at last the whole of India was
at peace under its sway. In 1857 a mutiny of the
native army of Bengal took place ; and, in the settlement
which followed, the rule of India was transferred directly
to the British Crown.
§ 4. Of the Religions of India the most widely
spread is Hinduism. Its oldest books, the Vedas, were
written about 1200 b.c. Their religion
TLe'vedas *s a kind of nature-worship : they contain
some high conceptions of God, and also
trivial and even degrading directions for worship. They
are now very little known in India. They were followed
by works on philosophy, law, and history, which it is
not needful to mention in detail. The most popular
religious books are the Puranas (antiquities), written
within the last twelve hundred years, some as late as
six hundred years ago, devoted to the history and wor-
ship of particular gods. They are all written in Sanskrit
— the learned language of India, as Latin is of Europe.
§ 5. The Hindus believe in One Universal Spirit
called the “ one without a second,” of which they believe
man’s spirit to be part. The visible universe
Hinduism' they call Maya or delusion, and owing to it
they believe men imagine themselves to be
distinct from the Supreme Spirit. Some sects, however,
believe in the eternity of God, of souls, and of matter.
They believe in the transmigration of souls — that the
12
®Ijc Storjj of lljc llajputatra Passion
soul of man in his present body is being rewarded or
punished for wliat it has done in a previous birth , that
at death it must enter some other body, an animal or
man, a god or demon, to he recompensed for what it is
doing now ; that after hundreds of thousands of births
the soul’s good and evil may be fully recompensed, and
it may attain mukti — emancipation or salvation, and be
reabsorbed in the Supreme Spirit. The law according
to which this takes place is Karma — the Hindu fate.
But it is not an arbitrary fate. It means literally deed,
TRIMURTI, OR HINDU TRINITY.
or action. According to it, every act must bear its fruit,
and man is reaping now the inevitable fruit of what he
has done in a previous birth.
§ 6. The principal gods are Brahma, Vishnu, and
Siva. Brahma is not now worshipped. The followers
of Vishnu and Siva form the two great sects
The gods of 0j jn(jja_ Vishnu is said to have had no less
Hinduism and
their worship, than ten Avatars, or incarnations, sometimes
as an animal, sometimes as a man. The most
popular of his Avatars are Rama and Krishna. As the
fntra: its $Urts, Religions, anb Utissiotrs 13
latter he is represented as having been guilty of many
vices and crimes, but the Hindus believe he was at
liberty to commit them because he was a god. There
are multitudes of other gods, whose total number is said
to amount to 330,000,000. They are worshipped by
means of images, some of which are very hideous :
wherever a daub of red paint is seen on a stone, that is
considered an object of worship. Turning strings of
heads, pilgrimages to holy places, festivals of various
kinds, are features of their worship.
§ 7. The most distinguishing feature of Hinduism is
the system of Caste. Its foundation idea is preserving
purity of blood by exclusiveness in marriage
dMsionsd ^ — members of a caste will marry only within
the limits of that caste. This exclusiveness
is extended also to eating and drinking, even to touching
and to letting the shadow touch. Each caste has
generally a distinguishing occupation or profession,
which thus becomes hereditary in the caste. There are
said to have been originally four castes : the Brahmans,
or priests; the Kshatriyas, or warriors; the Vaisyas,
or merchants ; and the Sudras, or agriculturalists
and labourers. There are now practically two great
divisions — the Brahmans, and the non-Brahmans, each
of which is divided into hundreds of sub-castes, that
will not eat or drink with one another. The lower
castes may take food from the higher, but not the higher
from the lower. The lowest of all castes is that of
the Mehtars, or sweepers, and only a little above them
are the various castes of leather workers. The Brahmans
are the highest, and are worshipped as gods. Some
castes are honest and kind, others untruthful and cruel,
and chastity is unknown. Any sin is permitted if it is
not forbidden by caste rules. The only sin that cannot
14
$jje Storg of % ^ajputaus P«stmt
Buddhism and
Jainism.
be forgiven is breaking caste. Anyone who does so
becomes an out-caste, socially dead. Hindus consider it
pollution to eat with Europeans or Christians.
§ 8. About six hundred years before Christ a great
reformation took place in India, chiefly from the
teaching of Buddha. He ignored the gods,
worship, and caste ; and taught a very pure
morality, by means of which, and by rising
from it to asceticism, Nirvana,1 or freedom from all
desire, was to be attained. From that, annihilation
was to be reached, the final goal of man. Buddhism at
one time spread extensively through India, but it has
disappeared from it for ten centuries, though it has
spread widely in other Eastern lands. Contemporary
with Buddha was Maiiavira, a saint who taught in
somewhat the same lines, but with a much narrower
system. His followers, the Jains, still exist in India
in considerable numbers. They are generally men of
wealth, and are specially careful not to destroy even
insect life. They agree with the Hindus in believing
in the power of Karma and the transmigration of souls.2
§ 9. The Mohammedans now number about fifty-
seven millions in India, descendants of the conquerors
of India, or of natives whom they forced to
accept their creed. They believe in one
God — Allah — and Mohammed as His
prophet. Moses and Jesus they look on as prophets for
their times, but Mohammed as the last and most
authoritative — his revelation, the Koran, superseding
all previous ones. It sanctions polygamy and concu-
1 Nirvana is now often used to describe final unconscious bliss.
2 For a full account of the Hindu system, see Hinduism
and its Relations to Christianity, by the author. (Oliphant,
Anderson, & Ferrier. )
Mohammedan-
ism.
JATI OR JAIN PRIEST AND HIS DISCIPLE.
They both have cloths over their mouths to prevent them drawing
in insects when they draw their breath, and brooms in their hands
to sweep the ground clear of insects before they sit down, so that they
may not destroy life.
15
fnfria: its Itaws, Religions, aitb Utissicws 1?
binage, and appoints the sword as a means of propa-
gandism. The chief feature of Indian Mohammedanism
is the worship of saints — Pies. The contact between
Mohammedanism and Hinduism produced several sects —
Panths, or paths, the chief of which are the Kabir
Panth, the Dadu Panth, and the Sikhs. They are now
generally regarded as sects of Hinduism.
§ 10. The Christian religion seems to have been
preached in India in the second century, but no
permanent Church was then founded. Later
on, some Nestorian Christians from Persia
settled on the Malabar coast, and founded a Church,
which exists to the present day. It numbers about
400,000, but has lost all expansive power. Roman
Catholic missions in India began with the
RomanCatholicsettiements of the Portuguese about the
missions. °
beginning of the sixteenth century. The
first missionaries baptized numbers of the natives
indiscriminately. The descendants of these converts,
mingled with the descendants of the first Portuguese,
form the Roman Catholic Church in India, which
numbers over a million.
§ 11. Protestant missions to India began in 1706,
when Frederick IV., king of Denmark, sent Ziegenbalg
and Plutcho to the Danish settlement on
missions111 the coast of Tranquebar. This mission,
which was made illustrious by the labours
of the venerable Schwartz, was the only Protestant
mission in India till towards the close of the century, by
which time it had gathered about 50,000 converts. Its
great defect was that it recognised caste among its
converts, an evil which was with difficulty subsequently
eradicated. In 1793, Carey went out to India, sent
by the Baptist Missionary Society, and was afterwards
2
18
®j)c Storji of tlje |la]pufana ISlissioit
joined by Marshman and Ward. Since then, one after
the other, nearly all the Churches of Great Britain
and America, and many of the Protestant
progress'^ Churches of the Continent, have sent
missions to take part in the winning of
India to Christ. There has now been gathered a
Christian community of about 560,000, of whom
182,000 are communicants. It was in the year 1859
that the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland
entered this great field ; and to the history of its mission
we now proceed.
BRAHMAN AT WORSHIP.
CHAPTER II
THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MISSION : ITS ORIGIN AND
FIELD, RAJPUTANA.
§ 12. The year 1857 was a memorable one in the
history of India. In that year the native army of
Bengal, by far the largest of the presidencies
The Mutiny of °f jQ(jja^ rose ju mutiny. That was the
only one of the armies of India in which
caste had been regarded, and it was just on this
point that judgment came. Rumours spread that the
caste of the Sepoys was to be broken ; suspicion was
aroused ; an epidemic of mutiny broke out in regiment
after regiment, with a fury and ferocity that appalled
the public at home, and awakened fears lest our empire
in India might have received its deathblow. Many
of the officers were shot on parade. Handfuls of
Europeans, including women and children, isolated and
surrounded, were, sometimes after a brave resistance,
massacred. Others, after heroically withstanding over-
whelming odds, were relieved ; and as the forces of
the empire rallied, and fresh reinforcements arrived
from home, the revolt was finally subdued,
Results Of the an(p a new I11(]ia seemed to rise out of the
Mutiny.
ruins of the old. This mutiny had many
important results. It led to the Government of India
being transferred from the East India Company to
20
®bc istoru of % ftajinttiraa pissbn
the Crown. It led the Christians of Great Britain
to consider whether they had been doing their duty
to India in giving it the gospel. It led the United
Presbyterian Church of Scotland to undertake a mission
to that great land.
§ 13. Up to that time our connection with Indian
missions had been only incidental. In 1844, Mr. John
Murdoch, a young man from Wellington
Work of Dr. Street Church, Glasgow, went to Ceylon as
a teacher under Government. Impressed
with the evil effects of the purely secular education
given, he resolved to devote himself to the promotion
of Christian education. To accomplish this, he gave up
his Government appointment, with all its emoluments
and prospects, and, receiving promise of support from
Wellington Street Church, Glasgow, set himself to carry
out his project. In 1855 he was appointed agent of the
South India Christian School Book Society. In 1858,
when, as a memorial of the Mutiny, the Christian
Vernacular Education Society for India was formed,
he was appointed its Indian Secretary, half his salary
being paid by the United Presbyterian Church. In this
capacity he made periodical tours over the
The Christian L J L
vernacular whole of India, studying the wants, especi-
Education ally the educational wants, of the various
missions ; and, returning to his headquarters
at Madras, sought to supply them in the books issued
by the Society. Thus an admirable educational
series was published in English and in many of the
vernaculars of India. Normal schools were also
established in different centres, in which Christians
were trained as school teachers. At its semi-jubilee
the Society took a forward step. Having helped to
raise a generation that can read, it has set itself to
21
®jje ISnitcb Mrrsbgierimt Iftissioir
supply good literature for them to read, and has taken
the name of the Christian Literature Society for
India. Dr. Murdoch — who in 1872 received the degree
of LL.D. from his alma mater, the Glasgow University —
continues General Secretary for Southern India. Besides
this work, he has
taken a lead in
enforcing on the
G o ve rn me n t
greater care in
the selection of
hooks used in
their schools and
colleges, and
there is now a
much better tone
in them. In all
the work done
by this Society
the United Pres-
byterian Church
has, through Dr,
Murdoch, had
an honourable
connection.
§ 14. But it
was felt that as a
DR. JOHIs MURDOCH.
Churchwe ought
to have a mission of our own in India. At the Synod
of 1858 overtures were brought up from
various presbyteries, asking the Synod to
undertake such a mission. The difficulties
seemed almost insurmountable. As has
more than once been the case when the
Proposals to
begin a
mission in
India.
Difficulties in
the way.
22
®bc JJfffrg of fljc ^lajputatra Pisstoit
Spirit of the
Church in
overcoming
them.
Church has been called to a forward movement, the state
of the funds seemed to call for retrenchment rather
than expansion. For some years the income for
foreign missions had failed to meet the expenditure by
about £1300. But the spirit of the Church rose to the
occasion. The Mission Board came before the Synod
with a well-considered scheme. A few
friends met on the 27th April, drew up
a circular, and issued it to a number of
the liberal members of the Church. On
Friday the 7th May it was found that £7455 had been
promised, to be contributed in five years. Encouraged by
this liberality, the Synod resolved “ cordially to approve
of the overtures; and remit the subject to the Mission
Board, with power to undertake a mission to India ; and
further, to authorise the Board to send deputations to
our congregations to deepen their interest in the missions
which the Synod has already undertaken, and to call
forth the energies of the Church more fully in their
support, as well as in the support of the new mission.”
The result justified their faith. Abundance of money
came in for the Indian Mission ; the general subscrip-
tions were largely increased ; all the missions became
solvent ; and after five years the Indian Mission was
without any difficulty put on the regular funds of the
Church.
§ 15. The Mission Board, through its admirable
secretary, Dr. Andrew Sommerville, placed inself in
correspondence with the various societies
centre' of^Rap- working in India, with the view of select-
putana, in2r the field that might seem most suit-
nol Apt Pd
able. As the result of the Report presented
to it in November of the same year, it selected the
province of Ajmer, in the centre of Rajputana, as
Hniteb ^wslrgfenair IHisstoit 23
its mission field ; and the Report was given to the
Church at full length, occupying the whole of the
December Record of that year. Copies of it were sent
to the secretaries of the other societies. It was every-
where recognised as a most able Report, and the choice
of a field as most judicious. The United Presbyterian
Church was cordially welcomed to the field in Raj-
putana, which has till lately, by a tacit understanding,
been for the most part left free for it to work in.
§'16. The field thus entered on was as noble a one as
any Church could desire. Rajputana is the name given
Position, ex- to the territory lying between 23° and 30°
tent and physi-^ lat> and 69° 30' and 78° 15' R long
cal character- _ °
istics of between Malwa on the south and the
Rajputana. Panjab on the north, and between Guzerat
and Sind on the west and the Uorth-West Provinces
on the east. It contains 130,000 square miles. It is
divided into two parts, nearly equal in extent, though
not in fertility, by the Aravalli range, which runs
through it from the borders of Guzerat in a north-
easterly direction to Delhi. As far north as Ajmer
these hills form one unbroken range, but north of
Ajmer they have the character of isolated hills, or
small ranges. The highest peaks rise to heights of
3800 feet above the sea, 2000 feet above the plains,
and enclose some scenes of rare beauty. Abu is a spur
of the Aravallis to the south-west. Its highest point
rises to a height of 5653 feet above the sea. The
country to the south-east of these hills is the end of
the great plain of the Ganges, which here, at a distance
of about 1500 miles from the sea, is about 1800 feet
above the sea-level. The ground is generally flat, and
capable of producing abundant crops where water can
be secured. The only perennial streams are the
24
$Iic IHorji of tbe |lajputaita Pissimi
Chambal and its tributary tbe Banas, which flow
through the south of the region. Artificial lakes and
large wells secure extensive irrigation in parts that
would otherwise be sterile. To the north-west of the
Aravalli hills the ground is much lower, and soon
stretches away into the great Indian desert, where for
miles nothing but sand meets the eye, and scanty
THE BANAS, KAJMAHAL, DEOLI.
supplies of water are obtained from wells 200 feet
deep.
§ 17. Owing to its distance inland, the climate of
Eajputana is exposed to greater extremes of heat and
„ cold, and to more frequent failure of rains,
Rajputana. than any other part of India. There are
The three three seasons — the hot season, the rains, and
seasons. ,
the cold season. The weather begins to
get hot about the middle of March, and by the middle
of April the hot wind blows like the blast of a furnace,
25
ttmtrb ^rtsbgttrian $$Ussimx
the thermometer rising as high as 110 degrees in the
shade. This continues on to the middle or end of June,
by which time the fields seem reduced to one uniform
expanse of sand, and impalpable dust seems to fill the
air. The rains begin usually about the end of June,
and continue at intervals as far on as September.
The seed is put into the ground at the first fall of
the rain, and the crops are ready for cutting about
October. The climate during the rainy season is
usually sultry and oppressive, and disease comes in its
train. The cold weather begins about November, and
continues on to the end of February, when the climate is
delightful and bracing, though often fatal to those who
have been weakened by the heat and the rains, the
thermometer frequently falling below the freezing-point
in the early morning. The cold-weather crop is raised
from irrigation, and is usually ready about the beginning
of March. It will be seen that so far as Europeans are
concerned there are practically two seasons — the cold
season, when they may safely leave their bungalows and
live in tents, and the hot season and rains, when they
must not be long away from their stations.
§ 18. This territory is inhabited by the principal
Hindu castes, but from the fact that the
and other rulers are generally Rajputs (king’s sons)
inhabitants. y. jg caqcq Rajputana. They claim to be
descendants of the old Kshatriya or warrior caste,
though the Brahmans do not allow the purity of their
descent. The oldest rulers of which we have any
notice were the Agni-kul, or fire races, only one of
which — the Chohan — now rules in Rajputana. Others
of the Rajputs migrated into the same district, or were
driven thither by the Mohammedan conquerors of other
parts of India. Here they founded kingdoms, and
26
f he Storg of % mpuiaua fission
maintained a desperate struggle against the Moghid
Empire. They were the last to be subdued ; the con-
quest was never complete, and they were the first to
throw off the yoke. We have thus in Rajputana
Hindu kingdoms preserved through the Mohammedan
supremacy much as they were in the days of Alexander.
We have the old constitution of society. The Brahmans
are the most numerous caste, being about one-eleventh
of the population ; then come the Jats, an agricultural
and warrior caste, who are about as numerous ; then
come the commercial castes, the representatives of the
ancient Yaisyas, now mostly of the Jain religion; after
them the Rajputs ; and then the various agricultural and
pastoral castes. There are also hill tribes in various
parts — the Bhils abound in the hill country of Udaipur,
the Mers to the south of Ajmer, and the Minas to the
south-east of the same district. It will thus be seen
that, while Rajputana is one of the most interesting, it
is also one of the most difficult fields in all
f.lffl°u!*ies of India to evangelise, one in which the past
history of the people rivets their attach-
ment to their ancestral faith — the inspiration of all that
was heroic and stirring in that history.
§ 19. Rajputana is divided into twenty independent
states, some of which, however, are mere chieftain-
ships. Two states to the east, Bhartpur
and political an(l Dholpur, are ruled by Jats ; one in the
organisation centre of the eastern district, Tonk, by
states Ba''pUt Mohammedans ; the rest by Rajputs. They
are all subject to Great Britain. There is
one Agent of the Viceroy for the whole of Rajputana ;
under him are Residents for the more important states,
and Agents for the less important, grouped as shown in
the table at the close of this chapiter. These officers
RAJPUTS#
27
29
®lj£ ^rcsbgteriair pission
have to see that the conditions required by the suzerain
power are carried out, and during minorities are virtually
regents.
The three principal states are Jaipur to the east,
Mewar or Udaipur to the south, and Marwar or
Jodhpur to the west. The Bajputs distinguish them
thus : Jaipur for wealth, Marwar for land, Mewar for
native chiefs (jat sirdaks), NORTH INDIA.
honour. In the centre of these kingdoms and con-
d tiguous to them all is the district of Ajmer.
advantages It lies across the Aravalli hills, just at the
of Ajmer and point where the continuous range ceases
Merwara A ^
and the isolated ranges begin, leaving easy
access from one side to the other. It is thus the key
of Bajputana, and has been always held by the suzerain
power. It passed from the Mohammedans to the
Mahrattas, and from them to the British. As this was
30
®(j£ Storg of tljc $laj{juttwH Hlbsioit
a good military and political centre, it seemed likely to
be a good mission centre. Here, too, the protection of
the British power was enjoyed. To the south of Ajmer,
also under British rule, was the district of Merwara.
Beawar, the chief town in that district, was fixed on
as the first station ; and Ajmer city, in the northern
district, as the second.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II
Table I. POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND NATIVE STATES
OF EAJPUTANA
Political divisions.
States.
Ruling caste.
Area in
square
miles.
Rev-
enue.
Popula-
tion.
£
r
i
Mewar
Sisodia Rajput
12,753
510,000
1,727,899
2
Banswaraand
1,946
28,000
186,043
Mewar Residency -
Kushilgarh
3
Dungarpur
If 11
1,447
20,000
98,448
4
Partabgarh
V »
886
87,975
Jhalawar Super-
5
Jhalawar
Jlialla ,,
2,722
150,000
343,601
in tendency
Kotah Agency
6
Kotah
Hara, Chohan
Rajput
3,784
295,000
526,267
(
7
Bundi
..
2,220
60,000
295,675
Haraoti Agency
8
Tonk
Mohammedan
1,113
120,000
198,934
9
Shahpura
(Chiefsliip)
Sisodia Rajput
405
3,500
63,646
(
10
Haraoti
Jadun „
1,242
50,000
156,587
Eastern States
Agency
11
Dholpur
J at
1,154
110,000
279,890
12
Bhartpur
1,9S2
2S0,O0O
640,803
Alwar Agency
13
Alwar
Naruka Rajput
3,144
230,000
767,787
(
14
Jaipur
Kachwaha ,,
15,579
500,000
2,832,276
Jaipur Residency -
15
Kishangarh
Rah tor ,,
858
28,000
125,516
16
Lawa(Thaku-
19
3,360
rate)
(.
IT
Marwar
»» >j
34,963
400,000
2,519,868
Marwar Residency-
18
Sirohi
Chohan „
1,964
186,025
19
Jaisalmer
Jadun ,,
16,062
12,000
115,701
Bikaner Agency
20
Bikaner
Rahtor ,,
23,173
125,000
831,955
127,416
11,987,755
In cantonments
2,749
Hill tribes not ; )
enumerated
above
J
229,839
12,220,343
Ajmer and
Merwara
British
2,710
542,358
130,126
12,762,701
The figures are from the Census of 1891, with the exception of the Revenue
which is from the Indian Gazetteer.
31
32
Cljt istorg of % iEajguiana fission
Table II
RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF RAJPUTANA
Religions.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Hindus
. 5,407,526
4,784,932
10,192,458
Aryas
251
120
371
Jains
206,361
211,257
417,618
Sikhs
717
399
1,116
Parsis
138
100
238
Mohammedans .
525,839
465,512
991,351
Native Christians
1,038
817
1,855
Jews
9
6
15
Animistic .
198,562
186,918
385,480
No Religion
2
2
6,340,443
6,650,061
11,990,504
Unenumerated .
115,165
114,674
229,830
6,455,608
5,764,735
12,220,334
Table III
STATISTICS OF CHRISTIANS
In Rajput States.
In Ajmer District,
Total.
Europeans
. 765
838
1,603
Eurasians
. 444
636
1,080
Native Converts
. 646
1,209
1,855
1,855
2,683
4,538
^ppnrbk io Chapter II
33
Table IV
STATISTICS OF THE PRINCIPAL CASTES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Brahman ....
Jat (agricultural)
Mahajan (mercantile) u
Chamar (leather workers)
Rajput ....
Bhil (hill tribes) . .
Gujar (pastoral) .
Mina (hill tribes) .
Mall (gardener)
Kumhar (potter) .
468,087 >
401,512 j
Balai
Rahari
Khati (carpenter)
Bhambi
Ahlr (pastoral) ....
Hajjam
Meo (semi-Mohammedan) ,
Sunar (goldsmith)
Mehtar (sweeper)
Charan (bards) ....
Moghia
Dadu Panths (Nagas, male celibates)
1,135,397
1,054,200
869,599
846,616
748,868
743,700
572,569
536,917
358,234
297,285
282,491
211,808
207,840
207,152
156,464
149,672
145,184
81,928
81,096
48,430
35,073
16,016
3
CHAPTER III
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE MISSION — FIRST PERIOD — FAMINE
OF 1869 — ORPHANS.
§ 20. To each of the two stations fixed upon it was
resolved to send two missionaries. A notice was inserted
in the Missionary Record calling for four probationers
or ministers to offer for the work. There was at first
little response. Only two preachers offered themselves
and were approved, Williamson Shoolbred and Thomas
Steele. They were ordained, the former by
Appointment ° .
and sailing of the Presbytery of Dunfermline, and the
Messrs, shooi- latter by that of Edinburgh, and after
bred and Steele. . . . ,
enthusiastic valedictory meetings in Edin-
burgh and in Glasgow, they sailed at the end of
September 1859. After a pleasant voyage of about a
month, broken by the transit across Egypt, they reached
Bombay, and were received by Dr. and Mrs. Wilson of
the Free Church Mission there. Dr. John Wilson was
well known as a missionary, a scholar, and a public man.
He was interested in all missions, and he and his like-
minded wife laid our mission under a deep obligation
by accompanying the pioneer missionaries to see them
settled in their field of labour.
§ 21. Railways had then only begun in India, and
were not yet available for the journey to Raj pu tana.
By steamer to Surat, where the Irish Presbyterian Church
had a mission, and from there, by daily stages of from
31
Gfnural fjisiorg of % Ipssiou — Jlrst |graob 35
Journey up
country.
fifteen to twenty-five miles on horseback or in bullock-
cart, the journey could be performed in
five or six weeks. This mode of travelling
was not unpleasant for those who had
strength to rough it a little, and there was a continuous
change of scene
that added to
the interest, and
often made it
very enjoyable.
But for this
health was ne-
cessary, and un-
fortunately Mr.
Steele’s health
gave way. A
little disorder,
that might have
been checked in
the beginning,
being neglected,
soon gained the
upper hand; and
though, under
good medical
treatment at the
stations they
passed, it seemed
to he arrested and they were able to proceed, it continued
Illness and to §'aiu groimcl At Erinpura, about 120
death of Mr. miles from Beawar, Mr. Steele became so ill
Steeie. that he could proceed no farther, and after
lingering for some time, carefully nursed by Mr. Sliool-
bred and Dr. Eddowes, surgeon of the Erinpura Bhll
REV. THOMAS EI.AIIt STEELE.
36
®Ije SStorg ot tlje $lajptttmra Pisstoit
Corps, he fell asleep, on the confines of the land ho
had hoped to possess for Christ. Like Abraham in
Canaan, the first possession of the United Presbyterian
Church in Rajputana was a tomb.
§ 22. Before his death he saw the first-fruits of the
mission gathered in. In the company of the mission
party was a Kashmiri Brahman, of the
name of Chinta Ram, taking advantage of
their convoy to return from Bombay to
Kashmir. He had been instructed in Christian truth in
Bombay ; on the way up country, in company of the
missionaries, it took greater hold of his mind. At last
he expressed his wish to confess Christ; and Dr. Wilson,
satisfied of his knowledge and sincerity, received him
by baptism into the Christian Church, and Mr. Shoolbred
engaged him as helper.
§ 23. As the hot weather was coming on, and Dr. and
Mrs. Wilson required to be back in Bombay before it
became intense, they left Erinpura for
firsTstataL Beawar a few days before Mr. Steele’s
death. Mr. Shoolbred followed after,
accompanied not by the Scottish brother whom he had
hoped to have with him, but by the native brother 1
who had been given in his place, and reached Beawar
on 6th March 1860, where they were met by Dr. Wilson
and Dr. Small, surgeon of the native force there.
Dr. and Mrs. Wilson had to leave almost immediately,
returning by Ajmer, Nasirabad, and Central India to
Bombay, which they reached about the middle of April.
§ 24. Before giving an account of the work done at
Beawar and at the other stations, it may be well to give
1 Chinta Ram continued an agent of the mission till 1878,
when his connection with it ceased — he still continuing a member
of the church in Beawar.
dmral fpstorg of % Ulissiou — Jfirsf Irriob 37
an account of the general development of the mission,
and of the methods of work adopted at most or all
of the stations. The history of the mission up to the
present time may be divided into three sections : the
Three periods first en(iing with the great famine of 1869
of the history at the close of the first decade, and the
of the mission. seconc[ the formation of the Bajputana
Presbytery at the close of the second decade.
§ 25. The death of Mr. Steele, so far from re-
tarding the mission, proved under God’s blessing just
what was needful for quickening interest
Increased in- . . . ’ , ,
terestin the in it. I he picturesque and powerful letters
mission at which Mr. Shoolbred sent home, and which
were published in the Record, must also be
taken into account in producing this result. On re-
ceiving news of Mr. Steele’s death, the Mission Board
resolved to increase the mission staff to six instead of
four, as was originally intended, and before the close of
the year the five additional agents were
practically secured. They did not, however,
all go out at once. Mr. and Mrs. John
Bobson and Mr. and Mrs. William Martin left at the
close of 1860; the following year, Mr. and Mrs.
Auguste Glardon and Dr. and Mrs. Valentine went
out; and in the following year, Mr. and Mrs. William
Bobb. By that time the horizon of the mission was
widening, and others continued to come, till at the close
of the first decade twenty-two Europeans had joined the
mission.
§ 26. But there were heavy losses during these years.
Besides Mr. Steele, Mrs. Valentine died at Bombay, on
Losses during her wa^ home> in February 1863. Mrs.
the first ten James Gray died at Ajmer in 1865, and
years. IVIrs. William Martin at Nasirabad in 1866.
New agents
appointed.
38
®Tr J$torg of % |lajp«fmni Iflissioit
Mr. Drynan, in 1867, succumbed to an attack of cholera
at Beawar. He was a man of talent, perseverance, and
devotion ; he had been a non-commissioned officer in the
army, which he left for the mission, on which, during
his short period of service, he left his mark. Dr. Robert
Gray died in 1869; he had completed his divinity course
before studying medicine, and the strain of his studies
seems to have sown seeds of disease, which in a hot
climate took a fatal development, and ended his career
before he had much opportunity of exercising his gifts
in the field to which he had devoted himself. Mr.
Glardon, who joined the mission from the Free Church
of Geneva, was obliged to resign. On the way out he
had an attack of ague, which, being neglected, turned
at Bombay into serious brain fever. He recovered
sufficiently to go up country and begin work at Ajmer,
which gave rare promise of future usefulness. But he
never recovered from the shock he had received, and
he was obliged to go home in 1863. In 1865 he
returned with apparently restored health, but after a few
months’ trial was obliged finally to abandon the field.
Since then he has settled in Yevey, and has done good
service in stirring up the missionary spirit in Switzerland
and among the French Protestant Church. Dr. Shields
was obliged by his health to leave in 1867, when he
proceeded to Australia. Miss Alexander had also to
leave the mission in 1869. Thus, at the close of the
decade, only twelve of the twenty-two who had joined
remained — seven missionaries, three missionaries’ wives,
one lay missionary, and one Zenana agent.
§ 27. The chief feature of the work during this
period was the occupying of the British district. The
missionaries who went out at first, under the impulse of
the enthusiasm awakened by the beginning of the
(itiural fpisforg of flje fission — Jiist |)erioh 39
the British
district.
mission and the death of Mr. Steele, looked on them-
Occupation of se^ves as called on to occupy Raj putana not
only for Christ, but for the United Presby-
terian Church as its special field. Raj putana
was not like other fields. It was a group of about a score
of states, each of which was a separate unit, and could
he evangelised only from its capital. There thus always
loomed before them the ideal of a mission in each of at
least a dozen of the more important states of Rajputana
— an ideal not yet realised. It was necessary, however,
to occupy thoroughly the British territory before ad-
vancing farther. The first step towards this was the
opening of a station at jSTasirabad in 1861 by Mr.
William Martin. It had been originally intended that
Ajmer should be the second station, but circumstances
led to the work being begun in Rasirabad. The three
missionaries in the field united in making a joint
recommendation to the Mission Board, and secured its
approval. This was the beginning of a practice that
soon became a regular institution in the mission, of
having a Conference of all the agents twice
th™otferenoe.a year- At ifc a11 important steps were
discussed, and arrangements made for the
management of general schemes, such as the examination
of teachers and of native agents. These were occasions
of friendly intercourse and of spiritual communion that
greatly helped the life of the mission. Ajmer was
occupied in 1862, and Todgarh in 1863. Dr. Valentine
settled in Jaipur in 1866, but it was not for some
years after recognised as a station of the mission.
§ 28. In this period the various methods of work
were set agoing that have since been continued in the
mission. Schools were opened at the various stations and
adjoining villages, with an aggregate roll of about 2300
40
®I)£ J$torg of % ^ajjjutana fission
at the close of 1868. Bazar preaching was carried
oh, and itinerancies made in the cold
results of work weather. .tracts and Gospels were issued
during this front the press, and the value of medicine
peilod‘ as an aid to evangelisation had been shown.
The first converts, too, had been gathered in at all the
stations, and by the close of 1869 there was a Christian
community of about fifty, with a church membership of
twenty-six.
§ 29. The famine of 1868-70 marked the close of this
period of the mission. The rains, which had been
defective for two or three years previously,
“°f failed altogether in 1868. At the close of
the rainy season, throughout the northern
and western portions of Bajputana, the lakes and wells
were lower than they had been at the close of the hot
season. The fields and jungles were a stretch of sand
instead of being covered with grass, and water was
being sold in some parts at an ana (l|d.) per jar.
Children were sold by their parents for sums varying
from one to five rupees. In the wake of the famine
came disease, especially cholera, which decimated a popu-
lation already weakened by hunger. The rains of 1869
were good, and there was prospect of a fair crop. But
the protracted drought had given occasion to the locusts
to breed in unprecedented numbers. They swooped
down on the growing crops and utterly destroyed them.
This last blow seemed to take the spirit entirely out of
the agricultural population, and they raised only a small
cold-weather crop. The year 1870 brought good rains;
the villages began again to be inhabited, and things
resumed their normal appearance ; but not until a
million and a quarter of people had perished.
§ 30. The small district of Ajmer and Merwara was
<®mral Historg of flje fission — Jfirsf igrrbb' 41
the only part of the smitten district under the British
. . Government, and the only part for which
engaged on they did anything. The only Europeans in
famine relief. RajpUtana besides the Government officials
were the missionaries, and they were short-handed,
Mr. Shoolbred being home on a much-needed furlough.
The only part of the British public that did anything
for the relief of the famine-stricken was the members
of the United Presbyterian Church. They, chiefly
through the Children’s New Year Offering, sent out
about £5500 for this purpose. That money was dis-
tributed in relief mainly to refugees from native states.
A labour test was required as far as possible, and some
works done that were of permanent value to the native
Christians. It was only comparatively few who could
be rescued in this way, yet there were hundreds whose
lives were thus preserved, and who returned to distant
parts of Raj pu tana with some knowledge of the gospel,
and with the memory of its practical exemplification in
the relief that had been extended to them.
§ 31. A fresh call on the liberality of the Church
came in the orphans left by the famine. Some orphans
had been brought to Beawar at the close of
Orphanage10 1861 ; thus an orphanage had been begun,
which before the famine numbered about
twenty. These had found members of the Church
ready to adopt and support them ; but the receipt of a
telegram sent to the Board, “ May we take eight hundred
orphans, or how many 1 ” let the Church
orphans^ft by know the additional demand that would be
the famine and made on them. The Church rose to the
the Church occasion. By a special effort, in which
again the gifts of the children largely figured,
£4750 were raised for initial expenses; and by a plan
42
®Ijc iSfocg of the mpntamt ffUsstoir
devised by Dr. MacGill, the large-hearted Secretary of the
Board, members of the Church adopted individual
orphans, making themselves responsible for their support
till they became self-supporting. So heartily was the
scheme taken up, that there were soon more adopters
than orphans. A telegram was sent back authorising
the missionaries to take as many as were offered. Tele-
graphic communication with India was not then in good
working order. It was some weeks before the reply was
received ; but the missionaries, relying on the spirit of the
Church, had intimated to Government that they would
undertake the charge of all the orphans that they might
hand over, as well as those that had been left on their
own hands. Owing to a terrible mortality among them,
the total number that finally came under their care was
a little under five hundred. These were
Disposal of the ^ grst distributed among the four stations :
and so it continued till 1881, when those
not yet settled in life were gathered in Beawar. The
Orphanage continued to be maintained there till 1889,
when nearly all the orphans had become self-supporting.
By this time boys’ and girls’ boarding-schools had been
established at Nasirabad. To them the few remaining
orphans were transferred, and in them or in the homes
of native Christians any who have come in since are
provided for.
§ 32. The Church has been well repaid for its interest
in the orphans. Only about 7 per cent, turned out
unsatisfactory. Of 253 boys, about 70
Fruits of the entere(j the professions, and are now
ministers, doctors, or teachers ; the rest are
in one way or other earning a livelihood, some a
competency. All the girls have been married. They
are with few exceptions church members. The character
drttml pigtorg of % $$liggiott — Jfirgt |hriok 43
of their membership is very much like that of church
members at home, reared in the Christian faith, but
modified by the influence of race, of hereditary taint,
and of early heathen association. Many have died,
others have been attracted to other mission fields : hut
in nearly all our mission churches the orphans form a
large element ; and however defective they may be, yet
among them are to be found the backbone of our
churches and the most reliable of our native agents.
NATIVE TRAVELLING — OLD STYLE.
CHAPTER IV
GENERAL HISTORY OF THE MISSION — SECOND AND THIRD
PERIODS — ZENANA MISSION.
§ 33. The Rajputana Mission, during the second period
of its history, from 1870 to 1880, was strengthened
by the accession of ten missionaries, ten
mission staff missionaries’ wives, and one Zenana agent.1
during the It had to mourn the loss by death of Mr.
second period. Qayjn ]\iarp;T1 at Nasirabad in 1874, Mrs.
M'Alister at Ajmer in 1875, Mrs. Traill at Jaipur in
1876, and Mrs. William Martin at Ashapura in 1879.
Mr. and Mrs. Robson had to go home in had health
— the latter at the close of 1870, and the former at
the close of 1871. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrie had to
leave in 1877. Dr. Valentine, owing to special cir-
cumstances, severed his connection with the mission
in 1878. At the close of this period there were
connected with the mission twenty-four European agents
— thirteen missionaries, one lay missionary, eight married
ladies, and two Zenana agents. But as two or three had
to be at home every year on furlough, the actual numbers
on the field were less.
§ 34. These numbers enabled the Church to carry out
its plan of consolidating the work in the British district
and entering native states. The station at Deoli, in the
1 See list in Appendix.
44
lislorg of % pissioir — Sttonh aitir ^oriobs 45
south-east of the Ajmer district, was opened in the begin-
Featnres of the nin§ of 187° by Mr. William Bonnar. In
work during 1872 the agricultural village of Ashapura was
this period. formed, where Mr. William Martin ultimately
settled. In the same year the first decided step towards
entering the native states was taken by the settlement
of Mr. Traill at Jaipur alongside of Dr.
New stations. yalentme. jn 1876 the Conference
appointed deputations to visit Udaipur, Jodhpur, and
Kotah, to report as to the practicability of opening
stations in them. All these reported favourably, but
Udaipur was the only one which the Church had the
men and means to occupy at the time. Dr. Shepherd,
who had been one of the deputation, settled there
in 1877. Special circumstances led to Alwar being
next occupied in 1880, when Mr. Jameson settled there.
One feature of the work during this period was the
development of medical missions. Of the new mission-
aries who joined, four were medical
missionaries, and medical missions were
established in Beawar, Ajmer, and Uasirabad
and Udaipur. Steps were also taken to
native ministry. A theological class was
formed at Beawar under the tuition of Mr. Shoolbred, at
which some of the more advanced native agents received
special instruction with a view to ordination.
§ 35. But the most important feature of the mission
during this period was the visit of a deputation from
_ the Home Church, towards its close. Some
Causes of dis- 1
sension in the divergences of opinion as to a case of
mission. discipline and as to methods of work had
produced dissensions among the missionaries, which, as
they are past, there is no need to detail. Dr. Valentine’s
position in Jaipur also occasioned discussion, more fully
Medical
missions and
theological
training.
prepare a
46
flu SHorg of % ^ajgutaim Ulrssioit
referred to in the account of the Jaipur Mission. The
dissensions occasioned by these events were echoed at
home ; the confidence with which the mission had been
hitherto regarded was shaken, and it was
adeput^tton” °f decided to send out a deputation to confer
to visit the with the missionaries. Dr. David Young,
of Woodlands Church, Glasgow, and Duncan
M‘Laren, jun., of Edinburgh, were sent for this purpose
in the cold weather of 1879-80. They visited all the
stations of the mission, saw the missionaries separately
and in conference, and happily succeeded in removing
misunderstandings, and in putting things on a basis
which has secured their working smoothly since. On
their return they presented an able Report, containing
recommendations which were all more or less carried
out, with great advantage to the mission.
§ 36. Among these was one that a presbytery of
Rajputana should be constituted. A petition to this
„ effect had been presented to the Synod
the Rajputana in 1879, but was allowed to lie over
Presbytery. pending the visit of the deputies. At the
Synod of 1880 it was cordially granted, and the ordained
missionaries on the field, along with a representative
elder from each congregation, were appointed to meet in
presbytery at Beawar on 12th October, Dr. Slioolbred
moderator. It did not remain long idle. On 27th
October 1880 it ordained Dr. Janies Shepherd to the
office of the ministry ; in 1883 it ordained Dr. Husband,
and a little later, Dr. Sommerville. This
enabled them to take full pastoral as well as
medical charge of stations in which they
were located. In 1884 the first five native
preachers were licensed — Hasan Ali,
Manawir Khan, Amrah Singh, Rama, and Devi Ram.
Ordination of
medical
missionaries ;
licensing of
native
preachers.
fpstcrg of % Mission: — JSrtonb nnb STbirb ^oriobs 47
The first three had been employed as catechists for some
time, and received their theological training at the stations
to which they belonged. The last two were lads
from the Nasirabad Orphanage, who had received their
theological training — the one in the Theological College
of the American Presbyterian Church at Saharanpur,
the other in the Methodist Theological College at
Bareilly.
§ 37. Daring the third period of the mission, from the
formation of a presbytery to the present day, it has been
further strengthened by the arrival of eight
Changes in the • • ■, • • ,
. . _ missionaries and seven missionaries wives,
mission stan •
during the besides Zenana agents. It has had to mourn
^r^pen^od of the loss of two missionaries: Mr. Wm. Martin
tliQ mission.
died in October 1883, and in 1888 Mr.
A. D. Gray resigned on account of his wife’s health.
Mr. Gray joined the mission in 1876. Owing to the
exigencies of the mission during his connection with
it, he was called to take charge of several stations in
succession, where he did efficient service, but he had
not the opportunity of developing a distinctive work
of his own. Three ladies died : the first Mrs. Bonnar
in 1887 at Deoli, and the second Mrs. Bonnar in 1891
at Kotah ; in the same year Mrs. M'Quistan died at
Ashapura after a long illness. It will be seen that the
general health of the mission has been much
ofhealth better during this last period than during
the first. The conditions of living in
Rajputana are now much better understood than they
were at first, and the extension of railways has made
it much easier to go to the hills to recruit. The effect
of railways has been seen in another way. There was
in 1891-92 a famine in Rajputana quite as severe
as that of 1868-70, but, by means of railways,
48
tyt Shorn of the llajpufaun $Stis$tcw
supplies were poured into the country so abundantly
as to keep down the price of grain and prevent
starvation.
§ 38. The most important feature of the mission
during this, period lias been the development of the
Zenana work. It has long been evident in
missions India that until the women are reached,
the effort to christianise the land will
be hopeless, and that not by ordinary missionary
methods, but only by women can the women be reached.
In pre-Mohammedan times the women of India en-
joyed a freedom and respect which they do not now
enjoy. The licence of their conquerors compelled the
Hindus to keep their women in seclusion. Among the
well-to-do classes they are kept entirely apart as pardah
women (curtained women), and shut up in zenanas
(women’s quarters), and all who can afford it have
such quarters. Here dwell the wife of
head of the family, his mother if
she is still alive, his daughters till they
are married, the wives of his sons after they are
married, possibly also the wives of his younger
brothers. They are all ruled by the grandmother while
she lives, and after her death by the wife or senior
wife of the head of the family. They have little
intercourse with the outer world, except visiting the
temples and going to religious festivals. They are
rooted in their old ideas and prejudices, and seem in-
capable of receiving light from outside. The poorer
Hindus are of course unable to surround their women
with such precautions, but there is a sort of moral wall
which keeps them separate and excluded from en-
lightening influence. The head of the family himself
may be convinced of the truth of Christianity, and
Position of
women in the
India.
■fftsforg of % Utigsbu — JSrtmtb anb C^irtr |)triobs 49
Zenana mission
undertaken,
ready to break with caste, but he has to reckon with
the conservatism of the zenana. It is thus manifest
that one half of the population, without which the
other half will not move, is inaccessible to the ordinary
means of evangelisation, and requires separate measures
to be taken for its benefit.
§ 39. From the beginning of the mission the mission-
aries’ wives did what they could in the way of instructing
the women they had access to. In 1866,
Mrs. Drynan, when left a widow by the
death of her husband, remained in the
country and devoted herself to work among the women.
She was Swiss, and in 1874 she was joined by a
fellow-countrywoman, Mdlle. Guillaumet, who was for
a time supported by the Swiss Churches. But in
1880, after the Zenana mission had been
regularly organised as a separate department
at home, Zenana agents began to come out
in greater numbers. Nearly every year saw the arrival
of one or more, till now, in all, twenty new agents
have been sent out, making with the two original agents
twenty-two in all. But of these nine have, for various
reasons, had to withdraw, leaving thirteen agents at
present carrying on this important section of the work
in Rajputana.
§ 40. There are now in 1894, besides these Zenana
agents, twenty missionaries in the field, including those
at home on furlough, sixteen missionaries’
tionofthe wives, and one lay missionary. Two addi-
mission. tional stations have been occupied, Jodhpur
in 1885 and Kotah in 1889, so that we have now five
stations in the five principal states of Rajputana, and
five in the British district, besides out - stations. At
these a Christian community of upwards of 1200 has
4
50
Storg of % $lajpttfana Utissimt
been gathered, of whom more than 500 are church
members. The incidents connected with the ingather-
ing of these can best be given under the history of the
separate stations. But before proceeding to this, a
little mav be said on the methods of work.
A SOLITARY GRINDER.
CHAPTEE Y
METHODS OP WORK.
§ 41. Under Methods of Work the statement of the
educational question will require the greatest space, and
thereafter something will be said regarding the other
methods.
Education has been a prominent agency in all Pro-
testant missions, and it has taken in each field a form
determined by the circumstances of that
Education as J
amission field. Two factors have influenced it in
agency. India, the native literature and Govern-
ment education. The ancient language of India was
Sanskrit, and it is the basis of most of the vernaculars
influence of in India. Its alphabet, too, is the basis of
native litera- most of the alphabets, and is adopted with-
tur 0 m India. . 1 • « . • p ii tt i • i
out any modification ior the Hindi which
is used in Bajputana. The literature in these languages
was not extensive before the rise of English education,
and was mostly reproductions of old Sanskrit literature,
often of a very debasing character. When the Moham-
medan conquerors entered India, they brought their
language, literature, and alphabet with them. The
language and literature were Persian, and the alphabet
a modification of Arabic, written from right to left.
Coming into contact with the natives of the land, a
new dialect sprang up, called Urdu — the language of
61
52
®Ije fltorg of % ^lajpufana Pissictr
English
schools ;
Government
education.
the camp (horde), which ultimately became a lingua
franca throughout India. No books were written in
it, till, early in this century, some translations from the
Persian were made, at the instance of the English
rulers ; but it has now developed a large literature.
The Urdu (or Hindustani, as it is also called) is used
by the Mohammedans, and Hindi by the Hindus, so
that a Vernacular school may include the teaching of
both of these languages or dialects.
§ 42. The teaching of English did not occupy a
prominent place in India till Dr. Duff saw what an
important use could be made of it, and
established his college at Calcutta. He
gave a great impulse to its being taken up
by Government, and Government education
has developed widely since. Besides establishing schools
and colleges at which English and vernacular languages
both are taught, the Government has established univer-
sities with which mission and native colleges may become
t k' as of a®^a^e(T These explain the two forms of
schools in schools that have been established in the
Rajputana Rajputana Mission — tlieVERNACULAR and the
Anglo-Vernacular. The latter were first
established, and there is one at each of the central stations
except Jodhpur and Kotah. In them all, the basis of
education is vernacular. After some progress has been
made, the boys are taught English in various grades
as far as an entrance to the university. In
fuifr°schoois" a11 of t5ieso schools an hour’s religious
instruction is given daily — to the beginners
from an elementary catechism, to those more advanced
from the vernacular Bible, and to the farthest advanced
from the English Bible. Besides this, all the school
books used are permeated with Christian truth. The
53
Pitbobs of ©fork
Hindus have never shown any fear of their sons being
taught the Bible ; they have often shown more objection
to their being taught English, in case they might thereby
by some mysterious process be made Christians.
§ 43. Early in the history of the mission the battle
of- Caste was fought out in connection with these
schools. A Mehtar, or sweeper — the lowest of the
castes — entered the school at Beawar. The other castes
demanded that he should be expelled, and this being
refused, they deserted in a body, the attendance falling
in one day from eighty-four to fifteen. With these
fifteen the school was continued as usual,
schools? the aud gradually filled up again. In Nasirabad
and Ajmer, where Anglo-Vernacular schools
were at that time established, similar crises occurred.
For some time the Christian dogma of the Brotherhood
of Man was proclaimed by empty benches. In both, the
54
®be ^forg of % flajputatta pbsion
crisis was ultimately overcome, though more slowly in
Ajmer, where caste feeling was much stronger than
in the other places. The caste that occasioned the
disturbance did not show much appreciation of the
sacrifices made for them, as they soon disappeared from
the schools. It is probable that the other castes, finding
they could not constrain the missionaries, intimidated
the Mehtars and induced them to withdraw. It has
been found that the most effectual way to reach them
is to have special schools for them.
§ 44. The Vernacular schools are mostly in the villages,
though there are some also in the bazars at the central
Vernacular stations. While India has an ancient litera-
schoois. ture, it must not be supposed that the
centres118*112 Hindus are an educated people. Only a
Non-Christian few of the castes learn to read at all, and
teachers. some of these are educated only in so far as
the business of their caste — such as keeping accounts or
conducting law business — is concerned. These village
schools had for object the training up of children
to read their own language, and to imbue them with a
knowledge of Christian truth. The teachers were at
first almost entirely Hindu or Mohammedan. To them
was intrusted only the secular education of the children.
The missionary or catechist visited once a week or fort-
night, examined the classes, and gave the Bible lesson.
As these examinations were the occasion of the gather-
ing of the parents of the children and others, an
audience was secured to hear the gospel under the most
favourable auspices. The teachers, too, were required to
come to the central station once a week to receive some
training in general knowledge and specially in gospel
truth. One or two of the best converts in the mission
have been from among these village pundits.
ititbbs of SHork
55
Rise of the
system.
Change of
system.
§ 45. The employment of sitch teachers was at first
a matter of necessity if there was to be general education
at all. When the school was opened at
Beawar, it was at first taught by Mr.
Shoolbred and Chinta Ram. It was too
obviously a waste of strength for them to give themselves
wholly to this work while so much evangelistic work was
waiting to be done, so that Hindus and Mohammedans
were employed for the secular branches ; and
the school system wasdeveloped for some time
on the principle of keeping the religious
education in the hands of Christian agents, and leaving
the general branches to non-Christian. This, however,
was evidently not an ideal system of Christian educa-
tion. The missionaries were perhaps a little supine in
not training up and retaining Christian teachers from
among the converts and orphans, several of whom were
attracted to other missions by the offer of higher pay.
This occasioned much discussion at home, and at last
systematic efforts began to be made to have an entirely
Christian agency in the schools. A Normal school has
been established at Beawar, in the old Orphanage, at
special efforts Christian teachers are being trained,
for educating and in a short time it is to be hoped that
Christians. there will be only such in all the schools
connected with the mission. A boys’ Boarding-school
has been established at Nasirabad, where higher Christian
influence is brought to bear on the sons of native con-
verts, developing in them a higher Christian manhood.
The average attendance at the mission schools in
Rajputana is between four and five thou-
sand. The direct results from them have
not as yet been abundant, but a generation
has been trained up in them acquainted with the
Educational
results.
56
®Ije g?tcrg of f be flajputima Pission
Bible, and with the faith in their own religious system
shaken.
§ 46. From the beginning of the mission the schools
at the central stations were always used on Sunday for
evangelistic meetings. As the number of
schools11 converts began to multiply, Sabbath schools
were also started in them and in other
convenient localities, at which purely religious instruc-
tion was given. In this work, as at home, a number
of native Christians besides the agents of the mission
are employed. The number of Sabbath scholars is now
upwards of 3500.
§ 47. Bazar preaching is perhaps the means of propagat-
ing the truth most extensively employed in the mission.
It does not call for much explanation. It is
fn^ai preach much the same as open-air preaching in this
country. The climatic conditions of India
make it an agency that can be much more systematically
employed, and the Hindus are generally ready to listen
tolerantly to all exposition of religious truth. Some-
times there are animated discussions at such meetings,
especially when they are first begun in a new quarter.
But a little practice soon enables the preacher to conduct
these in such a way as to prevent the continuity of the
address being broken, and they afford good chances
for a new presentation of truth. In the older stations
they are listened to very much as matters of course,
though with apparently in most cases complete in-
difference.
§ 48. The press supplies another means of pro-
pagandism. Bibles, Testaments, Gospels, and tracts in
the vernacular have been distributed.
Colportage has been employed from the
very beginning of the mission, a sum being always
Colportage.
|$trtbobs of SSorh
57
charged for the books a little above the value of the
paper. In some of the stations a bookshop is opened
in one of the main bazars, where books are sold, and
where there are good opportunities for holding meetings
and having private interviews. Most of the tracts there
sold have been supplied by the Book and Tract Societies
Lithographic of India' A lithographic press was early
and printing established at Beawar, and more recently a
presses. printing press has been established at Ajmer.
A monthly vernacular paper, entitled the Hitartli Patrika,
is issued from this press, and some consecutive articles
written in it have been rejrublished as tracts and
booklets. But it is a matter of regret that our mission-
aries have not done more in this department, consider-
ing the ability of the men we have. Two of them,
Messrs. Robb and Gray, have been employed in the
Committee for revising the Hindi Bible, and some tracts
and books on Christian apologetics and the Hindu
controversy were written in the beginning of this
mission ; but the weapon has not been employed as it
might have been. Perhaps the large amount of work
our missionaries have to do is to blame for this.
§ 49. Medical work was begun early in the history
of the Raj pu tana Mission. Dr. Valentine settled in
„ , , Beawar in 1862, and removed to Jaipur in
its double 1866. But, as has already been noticed, it
effect was not till after 1870 that the work was
fully and systematically developed. There are two ways
principally in which medical work powerfully helps
evangelistic work : it breaks down prejudice, and it
gives a favourable opportunity for impressing the truths
of the gospel. This was the main feature of the medical
work done during the first period of the mission. But
there is also the teaching the gospel to the sick who
58
flTfjt Storg of % llajpatmta Ptssfoit
come to be healed, and whose hearts are opened by
the care and love shown in the effort to cure them.
This form of work has been more developed during
the later years of the mission. It involves more
expense, as it requires the building and maintaining
of hospitals such as have been established in Ajmer,
Nasirabad, Udaipur, and Jodhpur, and it ties the
missionary more down to one centre, but it also secures
more concentrated and more directly effective work.
§ 50. The missionary stations can affect only those
resident there or within a few miles round. There are
vast districts containing many large villages
Itinerancies o «/ o o
which can be reached only by occasional
visitations. During the hot season and rains little can
be done beyond the stations, but from the beginning of
November to the end of February, when the climate is
delightful and admits of Europeans moving about with-
out danger, tours are arranged, and numbers of villages
and towns visited that cannot be visited at other times.
On these occasions the gospel is preached in the
bazars and market-places, Testaments and Gospels and
tracts sold, and sometimes medical work is also done.
These itinerancies are conducted on different plans,
sometimes that of staying long at one or two important
centres, and sometimes staying only a day or two at
each place, seeing as many places as possible in one
itinerancy, and going the next year to follow up the
work, the aim being to sow the seed as widely as possible.
§ 51. The methods of Zenana work are in some respects
the same as other mission work. Bazar preaching
is of course not undertaken by the Zenana
amawork agents, but dispensaries and hospitals speci-
ally for women are conducted on the same
lines as those for men. Girls’ schools are also conducted
59
fctljijirg of SSJork
Female
hospitals.
Girls’ schools.
on the same lines as boys’ schools, and considerable
progress is being made with female educa-
tion. It had been begun early in the history
of the mission, but the progress was not
great. When the Zenana mission started, there were
only about 200 girls receiving education to about 4000
boys. Since then the progress has been
steady, and in 1892 there were 743 girls to
4670 boys. A boarding-school has been established at
Nasirabad for the daughters of Christian parents — the
parents paying the board, and the mission supplying the
education. Under the efficient superintendence of Miss
Anderson, this school has been highly successful. In
1892 there were 70 boarders and 10 day scholars, all
receiving a good practical education, preparing them to
be the wives of a rising generation of Christian men, and
making them know what Christian homes should be.
But the distinctive feature of Zenana work is that
from which it takes its name — visiting the zenanas or
women’s apartments of those houses whose
women are not allowed to appear in public.1
To these homes the Zenana agents go
periodically, having often to make their way in the heat
through narrow lanes with offensive smells, up steep
stairs into meagrely furnished rooms. There they have
meetings with the women of the house, sometimes only
two or three, sometimes more. They read with them,
teach them to sing hymns, to read, and to acquire other
branches of learning as may be desired. It is obvious
that under such conditions the work of the
ofthwwork Zenana agents must be very much limited.
Teaching in one of these zenanas, reach-
ing only two or three, takes as much time as teaching
1 See § 38.
Zenana
visiting.
60
SFbe £>torg of % mputana Hlbston
in a large school, and is even more exhausting. Yet
the value of the work cannot be overestimated, as it
gets behind the great domestic props of Hinduism ; and
it is only to be regretted that the work has not been
multiplied tenfold.
Having taken this general view of the progress of the
mission and of the methods of work adopted, we now
proceed to give a short account of the work at the different
stations.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER Y
In 1889 the Madras Missionary Conference sent an open
letter to the Churches in the West, in which the work being
done was grouped as follows. It is practically the same as
in the Raj pu tana Mission : —
I. Mission Work among the Children.
Boys’ schools.
Girls’ schools.
Mixed schools for boys and girls.
Sunday schools for boys and girls.
II. Mission Work among Young Men.
Higher education in schools and colleges.
Bible classes for young men.
Special addresses (English) to young men.
III. Mission Work among the Masses.
Evangelistic preaching in streets and halls.
Evangelistic preaching in circles of villages.
Evangelistic tours and visits to Hindu festivals.
House-to-house visitation.
IV. Mission Work among Women.
Zenana teaching.
Special evangelistic meetings for women.
The work of Bible-women.
gtpptttbte to Chapter V
61
V. Mission Work among the Sick.
Medical mission work by means of hospitals and
dispensaries.
Medical mission work in zenanas.
Visitation of the sick in hospitals.
VI. Mission Work by Christian Literature.
The Bible Society.
The Religious Tract Society.
The Christian Literature Society.
Sale of Bibles and other books, by colporteurs and a
depots.
Distribution of tracts and handbills.
Reading-rooms.
VII. Work among Native Christians.
Preaching and pastoral oversight.
Sunday schools for Christian children.
Meetings for united prayer.
Young Men’s Christian Association.
Institution for the training of mission agents.
CHAPTER VI
ITISTORY OF THE DIFFERENT STATIONS — BRITISH
DISTRICT : MERWARA ; BEAWAR, TODGARII.
§ 52. Merwara is tlie name given to a section of the
Aravalli range to the south of Ajmer. It is about a
Physical hundred miles in length, and varying in
features of breadth from twenty-five miles at the north
Merwara. a mQe or two on the south. The country
is mountainous, difficult of access, and before its con-
quest by the British was covered with forests. The
Mers are a mixed race — partly Mina and partly Rajput.
They were nominally under the suzerainty of Ajmer,
Udaipur, and Jodhpur; but they practically maintained
their independence, and cherished in their rocky fast-
nesses an indomitable love of freedom, as well as a less
Character and hiudable love of freebooting, plundering the
religion of the neighbouring plains unless the inhabitants
1 paid them blackmail. They believed in local
deities and demons, whose priests are called Bhopas.
The chief shrine is that of Piplaj, a little way to the
north of Todgarh, where the Mers were wont to offer
their children in sacrifice before the country was sub-
dued by the English, and thereafter to slaughter buffaloes
with circumstances of revolting cruelty, till that too
was stopped in 1865. Female infanticide was common
among them. Caste was unknown. A small section of
fjistorg of % Ipiffmnt stations — §eafnar 63
the trihe have nominally embraced Mohammedanism,
and are called Merats.
§ 53. When Ajmer was ceded to the British in 1818,
one of their first cares was to subdue these daring
tt- * „ mountaineers. This was effected with com-
History of the
mission. paratively little difficulty by a force under
Colonel Hau. Qqlonel Hall.1 That officer set himself to
civilise the trihe. One of his first steps was to form a
battalion of Mer soldiers. It was stationed at a healthy
spot, where the country opens out on to the Ajmer plain.
The nearest village was Beawar, about four miles off,
and from it the cantonment received its name. The
Mers became loyal soldiers, and did efficient service in
the Mutiny. The headquarters were transferred to
Ajmer about the year 1866. Colonel Hall also per-
suaded the Mers to give up some of their barbarous
customs, and to cultivate their valleys. To assist in
this, he began the construction of talaos, or artificial
lakes, storing up water for irrigation.
§ 54. Colonel Dixon, who succeeded him in 1830,
took up this work, and greatly developed it. He saw
the necessity of attracting trade within the
district if civilisation was to be permanent,
and so laid out the town of Naya Nagar (New Town),
in the vicinity of the cantonment of Beawar. The site
was surrounded by a wall, and the main streets soon
built. The wisdom of the choice of site has been
amply justified. Beawar (as the place is generally
called) has risen to have a population of 20,000, and
has a larger cotton trade than any other place in
Colonel Dixon.
1 When Colonel — then General — Hall heard in after years of
the successful establishment of the mission, with uplifted eyes
and clasped hands he said, “Now I can say with Simeon, ‘Lord,
now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.’ ’’
64
®Ijc Sstorg of tlje Hlajputaua: gftission
Results of his
work.
Rajputana. The efforts of Colonel Dixon in civilising
the Mers were amply successful, but it must he noted
that the civilisation he introduced was a
Hindu civilisation. Hinduism had thus
the start of Christianity by a generation in
dealing with the Mers. The Brahmans are still few
in number, the total in Merwara being under two
thousand ; but the subtle spirit of caste has taken
possession of the people. In this district we have two
stations, Beawar and Todgarh.
Beawar 1
§ 55. As lias been stated,2 Mr. Shoolbred arrived
in Beawar on March 5, 1860. He was fortunate in
_ . „ securing a bungalow, which became vacant
Mr. Shoolbred at the time, with a large “compound”
at Beawar. attached, in which most of the institu-
tions connected with the mission were afterwards
erected. Ten years later, another bungalow was built
on the high ground between it and the city. Mr.
Shoolbred’s first work was to learn the language, and he
engaged as pundit a Jati or Jain priest,3 a man of
considerable force of character, who incidentally helped
in the development of the mission. On Sabbath he
conducted English service for the few European officers,
military and civil, in the station.
§ 56. The first direct step towards evangelisation
was the opening op a school in the town
menTofthe of Nay a Nagar in August of that year,
various A building was secured at a moderate rent
J ‘ in one of the side streets, which was sub-
sequently bought for the mission. It continued to bo
1 More exactly, Byawar. 2 See § 23. 8 See p. 16.
fissforg of % gtffmnt stations — $tafoar 65
used as a school till within the last five years, when,
under the superintendence of Mr. Brown, the number
of scholars has grown to exceed the capacity of the
building. It has accordingly been sold, and in its place
a handsome and commodious building has been built
outside the walls, with an extensive playground and a
separate gate to the city. It now ranks as a High
school. The Government has withdrawn its school,
and left the education of Hay a Hagar entirely in the
hands of the missionaries. In the year 1860 the first
HIGH SCHOOL AT BEAWAR, CHURCH IN THE DISTANCE.
village school was opened, and it was soon followed by
others. Besides the education given in the city school,
an evangelistic service was held on Sabbath afternoons,
attended by the pupils and many of the townspeople,
at which many interesting discussions took place. In
September 1861, Mr. Shoolbred felt himself far enough
advanced in the language to begin bazar preaching,
which has since been carried on uninterruptedly two or
three times a week.
§ 57. In the cold season of the same year he made his
5
66
®jie £>torg of % ^ajputana Pissiou
First itiner
ancy.
first itinerancy through the Magra, as the hill country
of Merwara is called, and was greatly cheered and
encouraged by the readiness with which
the simple villagers listened to the gospel.
One incident connected with this itinerancy
was like to he fatal to him. As he was riding towards
his tent one morning, he heard a gun fired, and immedi-
Attempton a^er a bullet whizzed close by his ear.
the life of He galloped up to the place where he saw
Mr. Shoolbred. tjle smo]te 0f the gun, and there found two
suspicious-looking characters, whom, with the assistance
of the pundit and groom, he succeeded in capturing and
taking to the jail at Dewair. It turned out that their
object had been merely plunder. As the native officer
in charge refused to do anything without Mr. Shoolbred’s
order, and as the latter did not feel called on to do any-
thing more, the men were released on giving security for
good conduct. The clemency thus shown was itself a
testimony to the natives of the nature of the gospel, and
impressed them as such. Itinerancies have been kept up
steadily since, and have at times been extended far into
the native states.
§ 58. After Dr. Valentine joined the mission in 1862,
the various departments of medical mission work came
in as an efficient aid to evangelistic work.
workalentmS S bu addition to ordinary work, Dr. Valentine’s
medical knowledge enabled him to expose
the pretensions of some of the Bhopas, priests or rather
prophets of some of the local deities. They were mostly
low-caste men ; they worked themselves up by dancing,
after the manner of the prophets of Baal,
Exordsmg unti] they were in an ecstasy, when they
claimed to be possessed by the goddess Devi,
and to be able, by divining secrets or foretelling futurity,
istcrg of % different station* — IBrafoar
G7
to give evidence of their divine possession. At a
midnight seance of one of these Bhopas, in presence of
a large crowd, when the Bhopa challenged the mission-
aries who were present to disprove his claim, I)r.
Valentine produced a bottle of ammonia and held it
suddenly under the Bhopa’s nose. The shock made the
man fall on his hack, and when he recovered he con-
fessed that he was an impostor. Thereafter the sight of
a scent-bottle was enough to exorcise Devi from any
who pretended to be possessed of her.
§ 59. The formation of the Christian community
in Beawar may be said to have begun with the
handing over of six orphans to the care of the
missionaries in 1861, already referred to.1 The
first convert from heathenism was won at the
close of 1862. A Brahman from Mathura, a pundit
well versed in the Shastras, came to
First convert, jfagar> jn the bazar he heard the
preaching of the gospel. At first he was inclined to
dispute it a little, hut by degrees became more favour-
able, and sought instruction from the missionary.
Shortly after he expressed his conviction of the truth
of Christianity, stood up along with the missionaries
and native agents in the bazar, and declared his
renunciation of his former faith. He was baptized in
January 1863 by the name of Paul Bhisham, in the
school, in presence of a large crowd of natives. This
first conversion, being from the highest caste, produced
a profound impression, and made the natives feel that
there was a power in the new religion beyond what
was in theirs.
§ 60. Mention has been made of a Jati or Jain priest
whom Mr. Shoolbred had engaged as pundit. With
1 See § 31.
68
®be ^torn of the mpufmtH pisston
him he read some of the Gospels, and had many dis-
cussions on religious subjects. The Jati did not embrace
Conversions Christianity, but in his temple he talked to
among the the worshippers a good deal about the new
Mers' religion. One of these was a woman who was
the wife of a soldier in the Mer regiment, called Amrah.
She was impressed by what she heard, and told it to him.
He was at first strongly opposed to it, hut, at his wife’s
suggestion, got a Hindi Testament, which he read, with
the result that he became convinced of the divinity of
Jesus Christ and of His being the sole Saviour. He
then spoke to Mr. Shoolbred, who found him so well
informed in Christian truth that he saw no reason to
delay his baptism. Two of his brothers were shortly
after converted. His wife was ill, and did not long
survive her baptism. The writer saw her a few days
before her death. Her disease did not allow her to lie
down. She was propped up in bed, and, unable to
speak, could only point up to heaven. Standing around,
in striking contrast to her wasted figure, were the three
stalwart figures of her husband and his two brothers,
whom she had been the means of leading to Christ — an
evidence in the early days of the mission of the power
of women even in India.
§ 61. Thus a Church was begun, and it continued to
grow. The spiritual history of many of the converts is
Growth of the exceedingly interesting, but space does not
Christian com- allow of it being given here. Mention must,
mumty. however, be made of the case of Rati Ram,
a priest of the Ram Sneh sect. At the time of his
conversion he was ill, and went to live at the mission
bungalow. The members of his sect claimed pos-
session of the temple as belonging to them, while he
claimed that it belonged to him personally. A lawsuit
ijstorg of % glxffcmtt Stations— |8eafoar 69
took place, which the Commissioner decided in favour of
the sect, and Rati Ram had therefore to give up his
temple. The mistake was shown afterwards, when
another priest of the same sect was converted. He was
strong and able to hold his own. He continued to
reside in his temple, and devoted it to Christian teaching
without opposition. Besides these mention may be
made of the fervent Lalla the weaver, who was the means
of bringing over many of his caste ; and Kamar, the upright
and successful contractor, the liberal supporter of the
Church, who have both passed to the Church above. A
church capable of holding 500 was erected in
church11 °f a a comman(iing site within the walls, and was
opened for public worship on 2nd March
1873. Amrah, who had left the army in 1856 for the
mission service, and who had studied for the ministry,
and been licensed in 1884, was in 1886 ordained native
pastor of the Beawar church. The number of baptized
adherents in 1892 was 325, of whom 134 were in fall
communion.
Mr. Shoolbred has been connected with this station
throughout its whole history. He has been thrice
home. On the second occasion, 1879, he received the
degree of D.D. from the Edinburgh University ; and on
the third occasion, 1888-89, he was chosen Moderator
of the Synod. He has been ably supported by other
missionaries who have been there at various times,
principally Dr. Sommerville, who, for ten years from
1872, carried on medical mission work, and Rev. J.
Anderson Brown, who since 1884 has had charge of the
educational work.
§ 62. Female education and visits to some of the
Zenanas of the city have been carried on for several
years in Beawar by native female Christians, super-
70
iltorg of tfre $lnjputmtn fjpssion
intended by Mr. Shoolbred. In four or five of the
„ , , surrounding villages, girls’ schools were
Female educa- ° o > o
tion and also taught by similar agency. In 1890,
zenana work. ]^,jjss Qow was appointed Zenana mission-
ary at Beawar, and set to work visiting the houses where
she could get
admittance. She
soon had as
many opened to
her as she could
overtake. The
work has since
been carried on
by her and by
Miss MTntosh,
with a good staff
of native agents,
doing visiting
and teaching
work in the
bazar and neigh-
bouring villages.
REV. DR. SHOOLBRED.
Todgarh.
§ 63. Todgarh
is about forty
miles to the
south of Beawar, in the very centre of the Magra or hill
Situation and coun^ry °f Merwara. It is situated at a
advantages of height of about 2800 feet above the sea, at
Todgarh. the summit of a hilly plateau, from which
passes descend to the plains and valleys on all sides.
Its importance as a key to these passes led, early
istorg of f be different stations — ®obgarIj
71
after the subjugation of the country, to a small fort
being erected — called Todgarh after Colonel Tod, then
Resident at Udaipur — and a small garrison being stationed
there to overawe the district. Under its protection a
considerable village gathered. In late years the Mers
have shown a disposition to leave their hill homes and
settle in the lower valleys. But at the commencement
of the mission Todgarh was the most important village
in Merwara, and as it was the best centre for the civil
and military administration of the district, it seemed the
best centre for its evangelisation. The chief objection to
it was its isolation. The roads were too rough even for the
country carts. Ponies and camels were the only means of
transit that could be relied on. This has now been re-
medied ; there is a well-engineered road up to the village.
§ 64. By the advice of the missionaries on the field,
the Mission Board resolved to establish a mission there,
and the Rev. William Robb, after being a
Commence- . .
mentofthe year at Nasirabad, went thither in October
work by Mr. 1863, with his wife — a daughter of the Rev.
and Mrs. Robb, jjgpg jyp Waddell, the founder of the
Calabar Mission — and pitched their tent under a
banyan tree. They were accompanied by Paul Bhisham,
the first convert of the Beawar Mission, who remained
there till 1872. The first thing to do was to build a
bungalow, which was erected on one of the hilltops
near the village. This became the centre of the
missionary operations. These were adapted
operation^ to the nature of the district. Todgarh itself
was too small to occupy much of the
missionary’s time. A Vernacular school was begun, but
it was only one of several in the surrounding villages.
These schools soon attained a high degree of efficiency,
and became the centres of evangelistic work in the
72
®Ije ^torg uf % |lajpttlana fission
villages where they were situated. Preaching in the
bazars of the villages within reach, and itinerancies
whenever these were possible, formed a large part of the
work. Dr. Shields joined the mission here in the
beginning of 1864, and continued doing medical mission
work till the close of 1867, when he had to leave on
account of ill health. But the natives had
workWeldS learned to come to the missionaries for
help, and, with the assistance of a native
dispenser, Mr. Robb continued to carry on this depart-
ment of the work.
§ 65. This hospital assistant was the first-fruit of
the mission. His name was Manawar Khan — a Moham-
. medan. He was for some time a teacher
First con-
versions. in a native school at Beawar, where he
KhanWar learned about Christianity. He went with
Dr. Shields to Todgarli as hospital assistant,
and shortly after professed Christianity. He soon
became invaluable in the mission as a teacher and
preacher. Another case of remarkable conversion was
that of the Raoji of Sarun, a village in Merwara not far
from Todgarh, the head of one of the chief clans of the
Rawats. One of the men of his village had gone on
a pilgrimage to Dwarka, and had brought back with
him a Hindi copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Unable
to read it himself, he gave it to the Raoji,
who began to study it, and the truth soon
took possession of his soul. It produced at first great
perplexity and excitement. In a dream he saw Christ
coming to him, bidding him confess Him, and directing
him to go to Ajmer, where he would be told what to
do. He obeyed at once — walked to Ajmer, a distance
of ninety miles, in two days. The missionaries there
received him gladly, and advised him to go for further
Raoji.
pisforg of % ipiffemtt Stations — ®obgarIj 73
instruction to Todgarli, which was not far off from his
own village. He followed their direction, went regularly
for instruction, and at last, notwithstanding the opposi-
tion of his clan, received baptism. He has since then
been a consistent, devoted follower of Jesus Christ,
irreproachable in life, constant in prayer, zealous in
speaking the truth to all around. But though he has
lived and worked there for twenty-five years, no further
fruit has appeared in his own clan, hut he has been a
pariah in his own house. Let us trust and pray that
his life and example will yet hear much fruit in the
conversion of many of his countrymen. By several such
cases the little Church continued to grow.
§ 66. The famine of 1868-69 fell with great severity
on the district of Southern Merwara, and Mr. Eobb,
from his position, was able to do effective
Orphanage servjce jn relief work. At the close of the
ana cnurcn.
famine about a hundred orphans were left
in the poorhouse. These were handed over to Mr. Eobb,
and for some time formed a large feature in the mission
work of the station. In 1871 a handsome church was
erected on a hilltop in close contiguity to the village of
Todgarh. Two years later the work seemed to increase
so much as to justify the appointment of a second
missionary, and Mr. and Mrs. A. P. C. Jameson took
up their abode there. In 1876, Mr. Eobb was obliged
„ . by the state of his health to come home.
Mr. and Mrs. J
Jameson settle He had remained out for upwards of thirteen
at Todgarh. years without a break, and from his isolated
position had had to endure a special strain. He was
thus completely broken down, and it was five years
before he recovered sufficiently to return to his field of
labour — a lesson that it is bad economy to allow a
missionary to remain too long in the field without
74
®be Storg of f be ^ajputana HUssion
furlough. Mr. Jameson continued the work, but, owing
to the exigencies of the field elsewhere, he was removed
to Beawar in 1879, and subsequently to Alwar. Mr.
Withdrawal Rol)lj returned in the beginning of 1882,
of European hut, after remaining there for a year, he came
agents. to the conclusion that the necessities of the
other parts of the field were greater, and that Todgarh
could be left in charge of a native agent. It was accord-
ingly left in 1884 in charge of Manawar Khan, who was
licensed by the presbytery that same year, and ordained
to the full ministry in 1892. The duties of the station
he has discharged with conspicuous ability ; and he has
done more to enrich the vernacular Christian literature
of the country than any other agent of the mission.
§ 67. When the writer visited Todgarh in 1891, there
was a Christian community there of a little over fifty, of
„ ,4. ***, whom more than half were church members,
mission to It seemed as if the work spent had been very
Todgarh. much in vain. But, looking at the record
of what had been done and of those who have gone from
it, it soon appeared that Todgarh had done for the
mission what many of our decreasing congregations
at home do for the city charges, had sent its best
members to be the strength of other stations. About
seventy-five of these were mentioned who had been
brought into the Christian Church at Todgarh, and were
now honouring their profession at the other stations of
the mission. Such, we suspect, must be the function of
Todgarh for some time. There are no industries around
at which the converts can get employment when they
have been outcasted for their religion. But let us trust,
too, that the time is not far distant when the testimony
of the gospel will win all the villages around, and no
one will suffer for professing Christianity.
CHAPTER YII
British district continued — ajmer, nasirabad and
ASHAPURA, DEOLI.
Ajmer
§ 68. Ajmer is beautifully situated, about thirty-five
miles to the north of Beawar, at the foot of Taragarh
(Fort of the Stars), a fortified hill, which
population, rises to the height of about 1200 feet above
and tnstitu- the city. The top of this hill is a plateau
tions of Aimer. . , , ..
large enough to contain a mosque, a small
village, and several bungalows, one of which is a mission
sanatorium. To the north of the city is the Ana Sagar,
a large artificial lake, which supplies the city with water
and maintains verdure in the valley below. There is a
large and bigoted Mohammedan population in the city,
and the chief mosque, raised over the tomb of Khwaja,
a famed Mohammedan saint, is one of the most renowned
in India. A number of wealthy bankers — chiefly Jains
- — have settled in the city, attracted by the security of
the British rule. Ajmer is the headquarters of Govern-
ment and of the Merwara Battalion. Besides the Mayo
College, which was founded in 1876 for the education of
Rajput nobles, it has a large Government college. The
offices and workshops of the Raj pu tana railway are
established there also. The population in 1891 was
68,843.
76
76
®Ije ^torg of fljc mjjttfmta Mission
§ 69. Shortly after his arrival at Beawar in 1861, Mr.
Robson paid Ajmer a visit. Going to the Post Office
Beginning of ma^e inquiries, he found that the post-
the mission master was a converted Rajput, who had
m Ajmer. been baptized at Benares. He was very
glad to welcome a missionary, and asked him to baptize
three of his children, who had been born since ho came
to Ajmer. Thus, in a city where he had expected to be
the first to preach the gospel, the first service he was
called to perform was to reap the fruit of other men’s
labours. In February of the following year (1862) he
settled in Ajmer, accompanied by Mrs. Robson, and also
by Mr. and Mrs. Glardon, who had just come from
Europe. As already mentioned, Mr. Glardon was
obliged to leave at the close of 1863. His place was
taken by the Rev. James Gray, who has since then
continued at work in Ajmer, and been closely identified
with the progress of the work there. He was accom-
panied by Mrs. Gray, who was not spared longer than
1865. At first the missionaries were assisted by Abd-
ul-Masih, a converted Mohammedan of earnest character,
who died within the year. His place was taken by
Robert Philips, a native Christian from Beawar, who
continued at Ajmer till 1867.
§ 70. The only suitable dwelling-place to be had at
first was the old Residency bungalow — now the site of
the Mayo College — about a mile and a half
Educa/tioncii
and other from the city. It was not till 1865 that
work. bungalows were built in the present more
suitable position. As a centre of mission work, a
commodious native house near the chief bazar was
secured. The work was carried on there and in the
surrounding villages on the same evangelistic and
educational lines as at Beawar. In Ajmer the first
77
AJMER.
fiistorg of % §iffer«nt Stations — gljmrr
79
attempt at female education was made, a girls’ school
being opened in the bazar by Lucy Philips, under the
superintendence of Mrs. Robson, who also got admission
to one or two zenanas. The work was taken up by Mrs.
Drynan when she went to Ajmer in 1869, and has
been carried on and developed since under her and
the other Zenana ladies. In 1869 new mission premises
MISSION PREMISES AT AJMER.
were opened, consisting of a large ball, capable of hold-
ing 300, and several classrooms. The
premises2100 Anglo- Yernacular school was transferred to
it, and the native church has met in the
large hall since.
§ 71. The Native Church began with the family of
the postmaster. The first convert was won in 1864.
, . He was a Jati or Jain priest, and was the
First convert. „ . , . , . . T .
first of that class m India to profess
Christianity. He had already found the atheism of
Jainism inadequate, and had sought satisfaction in
80
8Fbe Storg of fljc |lajpttfana fission
some of the secret sects of Hinduism. Ho more satisfied
with these, he came to Ajmer, where he came into
contact with some Christian books, and from them was
led to seek instruction from the missionaries. He soon
became convinced of the moral supremacy of Christianity
to both Hinduism and Jainism. He did not give up
belief in the existence of the deities whom he had
worshipped in the orgies of the secret sects, but, having
tested their power by methods of his own, in presence
of the Bible, he became convinced of their powerless-
ness, and gave himself up to be a follower of Jesus.
He was baptized by the name of Isa Das (servant of
Jesus). By taking this step he cut himself off from
his means of support, and from the high position and
the worship paid to him by his former disciples. His
conduct for a time was often unsteady, but the truth
asserted its power, and he became a consistent and
devoted Christian agent. He died in Udaipur in 1891,
mourned by the whole Christian community there.
Other baptisms followed, some of which give interesting
illustrations of the working of divine grace,
theCbuxch ^ut sPace does not allow of them being
recorded here. One that occasioned more
stir in the city than any other was that of Mohammed
Shah, a young Mohammedan of good family, whose
conversion to Christianity was keenly felt by his former
co religionists. When he went home after his baptism,
his mother shut the door in his face and drove him
away with curses.
§ 72. The famine of 1868-70 told heavily on the
agents at Ajmer. It was the place to which
1868-70 °f most of the refugees from the native states
came, and the missionaries were very much
taxed to provide help for all who came to them.
fjistorg of fbc jliffranf Stations — (sfflmer 81
Some ground was secured in the neighbourhood of
Ajmer, and relief works were begun on it. Mr. Gray had
gone to Beawar to relieve Mr. Shoolbred,
and cholera^ w,1° had Sone away 011 furlough, and Mr.
and Mrs. Robson and Mr. MfQuistan, who
had joined the mission in 1865, were attacked with
cholera. Though they were spared by the mercy of
God, they were not thereafter able for full work. Mr.
M£Quistan had to leave for home immediately ; and
Mr. and Mrs. Robson, after trying to carry on the work
for some time longer, were obliged to leave permanently.
This interruption prevented the relief works being com-
pleted as had been intended. But one or two small
talaos were finished on the ground that had been
purchased, and a few Christian families
Baiakpura are now sef bled on it, in a village called
Balakpura (Children’s Village), to commemo-
rate the fact that the ground was secured and the
talaos constructed with money collected by the children
of the Church.
§ 73. In 1871, Dr. and Mrs. Husband came to Ajmer,
and have since then, with occasional interruptions,
continued there. Dr. Husband opened a
thetvspitai dispensary in one of the most crowded
parts of the city. It has secured the
confidence of the natives, and has been a means of
abundant evangelistic work. Its efficiency has been
greatly hindered by the inadequacy of the premises —
a defect which is now being remedied. In 1884 a
printing press was established, to which reference has
already been made. The railway workshops
at Ajmer have attracted a considerable
European and Eurasian population. For
their benefit an English service is held regularly cn
6
English
service.
82
®bc %toxQ of % fiBjptttana UJisstcm
Municipal
work.
Sabbath afternoons in the Railway Institute. The
importance of this work both for those immediately
benefited and for its indirect influence on the mission
can hardly be overestimated.
§ 74. One side work done by the missionaries may
be noticed. Government has been trying to introduce
municipal self-government into India. About
1868 a municipal constitution was given to
Ajmer. The natives were new to the work,
and they looked for help to the missionaries. Mr.
Gray took part in the municipal committee from 1871
till he came home on furlough in 1875. After him Dr.
Husband was elected a member, and was subsequently
chosen chairman — practically the same as mayor or
provost. For some years, till his last visit home, while
carrying on full mission work, he continued to guide
the affairs of the municipality, to the great benefit of
the city and the satisfaction of all parties. When he
resigned he received a hearty testimonial to the value of
his labours.
§ 75. The beginning of the educational work among
girls has been already referred to. In this work Mrs.
Drynan has been engaged since coming to
Ajmer in 1868. In 1874 she was joined by
Miss Guillaumet. In 1881, consequent on
the starting of the Zenana Missionary Society,
Miss Miller and Miss Young went to Ajmer.
The former gave attention mainly to teaching and Zenana
visiting. Miss Young, who had had training as a nurse,
opened a female dispensary, under the supervision of Dr.
Husband. This proved so successful that the need for
a female hospital soon became apparent. Funds were
subscribed for the erection of one ; and Dr. J . Helen
Grant, a fully qualified medical lady, went out to take
Zenana
Mission.
Educational
and hospital
work.
fjistcrrg of % |Biffrrart Stations — ^jmer 83
charge of it. In the first year she attended to no less
than 7000 cases. She left for Kotah in 1890, on her
marriage to Mr. Bonnar. Miss Young still carries on
hospital and Zenana work, and last year had much to
do in famine relief. In the educational work Mrs. Drynan
is assisted by Miss Hutton.
§ 76. Mention has been made of the beginning of the
native Church in Ajmer. Two causes have contributed
to its growth besides conversions — the
church °f th6 oi'i'hans who were left in 1869, and the
railway workshops. The latter give em-
ployment to many artisans. Some of the Ajmer
converts through them have found a means of living
when cast off by their relations, and some have been
attracted from other parts of India. As their hours
are long, and they live in various parts of the city,
there is difficulty in looking after them and keeping-
up their standard of life. But there is a larger pro-
portion of the Ajmer congregation than of any other
entirely independent of the mission. The total number
of adherents in 1892 was 201, of whom 113 were
members.
§ 77. Two outposts of the Ajmer Mission may be
mentioned. Pushkar or Pohkar, a Brahmanical city of
about 3000 inhabitants, about six miles from
Pushkari0nS' Ajmer, on the shores of a sacred lake, is
visited by immense crowds at the annual
festival at the beginning of November. At this festival
agents of the mission are generally present in large force,
seeking to scatter seeds of truth that may be carried by
the returning pilgrims to their homes. A school has also
been established there for some time for the benefit of
permanent residents, but the prejudices of the people
have been too strong for it to succeed.
84
®bt Sdorj> of the flujputmm pbsioit
Kishangarh is about sixteen miles to the east of
Ajmer, and is connected with it by railway. It is a
town of about 15,000 inhabitants, and is
the capital of a small state of the same name.
A mission dispensary has been opened there for some
time, in charge of a native Christian ; a catechist is
PTTSHKAR.
also permanently stationed there, both superintended by
the missionaries in Ajmer.
§ 78. There are two other missions now established
in Ajmer — one connected with the Church of England,
and the other with the American Methodist
ot.h®I . Episcopal Church. The former had in 1890
134 adherents, of whom 43 were communi-
cants. The Methodists claim to have baptized hundreds
of converts in Ajmer and the neighbourhood. The
number in full communion in 1890 was 25.
fiistorjr of Ifasirabab anb ^sljapura
85
Nasirabad and Ashapura
§ 79. When the Ajmer district was ceded to Great
Britain in 1817, a brigade of the Indian army was
stationed in the Ajmer valley. This not
NEtsJrabad proving healthy, the force was moved out
to the open plain beyond the hills to the
east, and a cantonment formed. The commander-
in-chief at that time in Rajputana was Sir David
Ochterlony, to whom the Emperor of Delhi had given
the title N aslr-ud-daulah (Pillar of the Empire). In
compliment to him the new camp was called Nasirabad.
Since then it has continued the chief military station in
Rajputana. There is always an English regiment there,
as well as two or three native regiments. The canton-
ments are well laid out. A native toivn soon gathered
in their vicinity, which has now a population of 21,000.
§ 80. In July 1860 cholera broke out among the
Europeans at Nasirabad, and as there was no chaplain
there, Mr. William Martin, accompanied by
Circumstances . . .
leading to the Mrs. Martin, went for a time to minister to
founding of the sjck ancj dying. While there he was
the mission. . ...
impressed with its suitableness as a centre
for mission work. He tvas invited by the natives to open
a school, and so, as related above,1 Nasirabad was opened
as the second station of the mission in August 1861.
Mr. and Mrs. Gavin Martin joined the mission in 1864.
The two brothers continued to work together till the death
of Mr. Gavin Martin in 1874. A large compound was
Establishment secure(i, conveniently situated for the bazar,
and progress of large enough to contain two bungalows, and
the mission. wjth ample space also for the erection subse-
quently of girls’ and boys’ boarding-schools and houses for
1 See § 27.
86 ®ljc £>torjr of flje $lajputami fission
native agents. The missionaries were at first assisted by
Khan Singh, a Sikh of great natural eloquence, but who
left the mission after a few years. An Anglo-Vernacular
school was opened, and soon got a commanding position in
the place. A building was erected for it in a side street,
which continued for many years to serve as a school on
the week days and for the native service on the Sabbaths.
Bazar preaching and educational and evangelistic work
in the large villages around were vigorously carried on.
The missionaries also conducted an English service for
the Presbyterian soldiers in the place.
§ 81. The first convert in the mission was Lachman,
a camp follower, not a man of brilliant parts, but
of steady character, who maintained a
First converts. , . , , . . . .
thoroughly consistent profession, and gave
no trouble to the missionaries. The next convert was
quite a contrast. His name was Hassain Ali ; he was
a Mohammedan, of considerable genius and force of
character. His conversion and baptism produced a
great sensation in the native community. Unfortun-
ately, some early vices still clung to him, and he had to
be suspended from church membership and dismissed
from mission service. ' In the midst of all he never
swerved from his allegiance to Christ ; he was finally
restored, and did good service with his pen even more
than with his word. Some of the most poetic and
literary of the hymns sung by the native Christians
throughout the north-west are “ ghazals ” (a species of
Urdu poem) composed by him.
§ 82. The good work done by the brothers Martin
during the first years of the mission bore fruit during
the famine of 1868-70, when the chief development of
the work at Nasirabad took place. In the cantonment,
and in the villages around, the ascendency which Mr.
87
islorg of ^usirabair aub ^sfrapara
William Martin especially had obtained over the natives
became apparent. When cholera broke out
th“g bhe villages, and intercourse between them
and cholera and the camp was forbidden, he ejected
stricken • •
to remain outside, and made his head-
quarters during the hot season of 1869 a small hut
under a banyan
tree in the vil-
lage of Tantutl.
There he super-
intended famine
relief, and the
help given to the
cholera - smitten
villages around.
He soon
such confidence,
that natives
came from dis-
tances of fifty
and a hundred
miles, passing
by Government
doctors and
Government dis-
pensaries, to bo
treated by him,
not only for
cholera, but also for other diseases, and even for surgical
ItEV. WILLIAM MARTIN.
cases.
§ 83. The missionaries secured a considerable piece of
ground near Nasirabad, on which they had a talao
formed as a famine relief work. Here they planted a
colony of Christian farmers from among the orphans
88
®tic ^forg of tljt Kajgufatta HXissiort
who had been left on their hands. The village thus
formed was called Ashapura (Hope Town). It was in
1874 formed into a station connected with
Foundation of ]Sj'agjra]3a(]_ A bungalow was erected for
ASQ^pUl ft .
the residence of the missionary, the large
central room of which was used also as the church.
Mr. William
Martin superin-
tended the vil-
lage and the
work in the
village schools,
while his bro-
ther, Mr. Gavin
Martin, carried
on the work in
Nasirabad itself.
Dr. Wm. Clark
had the previous
year been settled
in Nasirabad as
medical mission-
ary, and this
made the above
arrangement
easier.
§84. In 1874
hev. gavin maf.tin, Mr. Gavin Mar-
tin was called to
his rest, leaving a record of quiet, effective work
that will long be remembered. Mr. William Martin
was spared nine years longer, training up the orphans
into useful members of society as farmers or tradesmen,
and working in the villages around. He lost his wife
fjistorjr of Ifasirabab aitb ^sfrapura
89
— the second Mrs. Martin — in 1879, and he himself
succumbed to fever in 1883. He was
Gavin Martin, Srea% respected in JSTasirabad, and a
Mrs. wm. military funeral was prepared for him, but
Wm^Martta^' orphans among whom he had lived
insisted on carrying him to his last rest-
ing - place. The village of Ashapura continues a
HIGH SCHOOL, NASIRABAD.
memorial
Progress of
work at Asha'
pura.
of his work. It has now a population of
about 120, of whom 40 are communicants,
and among these are some notable cases of
persons who have been won from surround-
ing heathenism. The village was for some time under
the charge of Mr. M'Quistan, and there Mrs. M'Quistan
died in 1891. It is now being worked as an out-station
of Hasirabad.
§ 85. In Nasirabad itself there is a dispensary, and
a medical mission which has been conducted by Dr.
90
Sforg of % mputatta pisaum
Clark
Progress of
since 1873. The school, under the changes
which took place after Mr. Gavin Martin’s
the work at death, lost its efficiency, and the munici-
Nasirahad. pality, feeling the want of a good school,
set apart funds for establishing one, and erected a
commodious and handsome building outside the native
town, in close proximity to the mission bungalow. Just
at that time Mr. Robb undertook the superintendence of
the mission school, and it soon became so efficient as to
leave scarcely any room for a municipal school. Seeing
this, the municipality handed over the use of the new
building to the mission, the only condition being that
a European missionary should have charge of the
school, and be present for an hour daily. It is now a
high school.
§ 86. As in Ajmer, some work was done among the
women of Nasirabad by the wives of the missionaries
from the beginning of the mission. In 1881, Miss Ander-
Pemaie educa- son an(l Mbs Flett were appointed Zenana
tion and missionaries. The latter, after some years’
Zenana work. earnes^ WOrk, was obliged to resign on
account of ill health. Miss Anderson set herself to
educational work, and began the boarding-school which
has already been referred to.1 Miss Flett’s place was
taken for some years by Miss Oubridge, and subse-
quently by the Misses Paterson, who, with the efficient
co-operation of Mrs. Robb and the aid of several native
agents, are carrying on a girls’ school in the bazar and
visiting in the Zenanas.
§ 87. A handsome church — the Martin Memorial
Church — was erected in 1886, near the
school, and near it is the quarter of the
native Christians. The houses are well
1 See § 51.
Present posi-
tion of the
work.
91
ffistorg of $fasiralja!) anb ^.sljapura
built and clean, and the Christians living near one an-
other form a separate community, and by their lives are
DEVI HAM, NATIVE TASTOE AT NASIEABAD, AND FAMILY.
a witness to the heathen of the power of Christianity.
They are ministered to by Devi Ram, one of the
orphans, a man of very high character, who was
92
Utorji of the ifajputiwa ^lissiou
ordained pastor in 1886, and is mainly supported by
his congregation.
When the writer visited Nasirabad in 1891, the
boys’ and girls’ boarding-schools, the high school, the
church, and the Christian quarter, seemed
results* to h™ to present a picture of missionary
activity grouped in the way most likely to
impress the town and district. The result in the
number of communicants (forty-three) seemed disappoint-
ingly small. But Nasirabad has not been able to retain
all its converts. Some of the best have been attracted
by the offer of high pay to other mission fields, and
others, unable to find means of support in Nasirabad or
Ashapura, have been obliged to go elsewhere.1
Deoli
§ 88. To the south-east of the British district of
Ajmer there is a small corner cut off from the rest by
the Banas, a river which in the rains is
Deou0n0f a great flood, and in ordinary seasons has
water flowing all the year through. On
each side of the little district beyond the river are the
states of Jaipur and Udaipur, the portion of the latter
in the immediate vicinity being the semi-independent
chieftainship of Shahpura. Immediately to the north-
east is the state of Bundi, and beyond it that of Kotah.
These states, from being ruled by the Haras, a branch
of the Cholian Rajputs, are called the Haraoti states.
Thirty-six miles to the north is Tonk, the capital of
the Mohammedan kingdom of that name. To the
south of the district is the Kharar, a hilly country,
1 For a full account of the work at Nasirabad, see Martin
Memorials.
fistorg of the Jiffmnt Stations— §fo!i 93
inhabited by a tribe called the Parihar-Mlnas. They
are in some respects like the Mers, but are more
thoroughly Hinduised. With a view to civilise this
tribe and suppress brigandage in the district,
Origin Of the regiment was raised, and a cantonment
cantonment. ° ^ , ...
established at Deoli. It was found likewise
the most suitable place for the residence of the Political
Agent who had charge of the Haraoti states. Kotah is
DEOLI CHURCH.
now under a separate Agent, and Tonk and Sliahpura
are superintended from Deoli. The total population is
a little over 5000.
§ 89. The same considerations which made it a good
military and political centre seemed to point to it also
Commence- as a ?°°d missionary centre. In 1871, the
mentofthe missionaries feeling themselves able to ex-
tend, and the way not seeming yet open
for settling in a native capital, it was resolved to open
94
^forg of % llajputnivn HUsaioit
work in Deoli as being practically in the centre of
native states. Accordingly, in March of that year,
the Eev. William Bonnar settled there. He secured
a bungalow that had become vacant, and set about
educational and evangelistic work. He was assisted
from the first by Paul Bhisham, the first of the Beawar
converts. As other Christian agents were secured,
Bhisham was transferred to Kekri, a town of 7000
inhabitants in the Ajmer district, about twenty miles
from Deoli, where he carries on evangelistic work.
§ 90. In 1873, Mr. Bonnar was joined by Dr. James
Shepherd, and they continued working the station
together till 1877, when the way was
natwTstetes. °Pened for Dr- Shepherd to go to Udaipur.
The same year a church was opened in
Deoli for the use of the English residents and the
native Christians who were beginning to gather. Mr.
Bonnar continued to work at Deoli till 1887 — the main
feature of his work, besides the educational and evangel-
istic work in the station and neighbouring villages,
being itinerancies in the native states. By these he
opened up the way for settling in Kotah, whither
he proceeded in 1889, after being eighteen months
at Beawar. His place was taken by Mr. W. E.
Martin, nephew of the N asirabad Martins, who with Mrs.
Martin settled there in 1888, and who set himself to
systematic itinerancy in the Mina district; but before
much fruit could be reaped from this he was called by
the exigencies of the mission to Beawar. Deoli is now
worked as an out-station of Kotah. There
is a boys’ and also a girls’ school at it.
Results of the There have been several baptisms at Deoli ;
but here, as elsewhere, there has been a
difficulty in retaining native Christians, who have been
95
fpstorg of % Jliffrant Stations — Jltoli
cut off from their usual means of support, and who
cannot find employment in connection with the mission.
There is at present there a Christian community of 43,
of whom 1 5 are church members.
XF.K-CHAL TALAO, DEOLI.
CHAPTER YIII
MISSIONS IN NATIVE STATES JAIPUR, UDAIPUR
Jaipur
, 91. The state of Jaipur stretches from Ajmer and
Kishangarh eastward to Bhartpur. The old name of
the country was Dhundar, and the old
jaip^/state10 caPital was Amber, strongly situated on
the hills to the north of the present city,
but now uninhabited. It is ruled by the Kachwahas, a
branch of the Solar race. It had not a prominent place
in Hindu history till the beginning of last century,
when the throne was occupied by Jai Singh, one of
the most remarkable native princes that India has
produced. He was a man of shrewd policy and of
considerable culture. He wrote on many subjects,
especially astronomy ; and the observatories which he
constructed in Delhi, Benares, and Jaipur testify to the
care and expense with which he pursued the study.
He saw that the old style of mountain fortress-capital
was not suited for the development of a kingdom, so
he founded the present capital in the plain, and called
it after his own name. The history of Jaipur is not
marked by any heroic struggle, but rather by the triumphs
of policy and peace, and its rulers and inhabitants are
more noted for craft than those of the other Rajput states.
It is now the wealthiest and most advanced of the
06
7
SQUARE IN JAIPUR.
99
fissions in |Tatib-e states— |aipur
The capital.
larger Rajput states. It has a population of 2,832,276,
... .of whom 2,583,386 are Hindus. Of these
Population and ’
resources of 360,000 are Brahmans, and if we add
the state. p)aqu Panths (11,000) and devotees
(57,000), we have more than one-sixth of the whole
belonging to what may be called the religious orders.
The total income of the state is £1,200,000, but of
this £700,000 are alienated mainly on religious grants.
The capital Jaipur is a fine city, built with all the
exactness of a mathematician.1 It has a fine college,
girls’ school, school of arts, hospital and
museum, and well - laid - out gardens. It
has a population of 160,000, of whom about 39,000 are
Mohammedans and 10,000 Jains. There are seven
banking firms in the city, with a capital of £6,000,000,
and doing an annual business of £2,250,000.
§ 92. The opening for a mission to this state came
providentially in 1866. In the hot season of that year,
Opening for I)r- Valentine, passing through Jaipur on
Dr. Valentine his way to the hills for the benefit of his
to settle there. health, stayed for a day or two at the
Residency with Major and Mrs. Beynon. While there
he was introduced to the Maharajah Ram Singh, known
as one of the most enlightened and reforming of the
princes of India, and was asked by him to take part
in a consultation in the case of one of his queens, who
was at the time suffering from bad health. He so
pleased the Maharajah that he asked him to remain
1 The city is an oblong parallelogram. A street 2 miles long
and 110 feet wide runs through the length of it ; two streets
of a similar width cross this street, dividing the city into six
parts of nearly equal size. One of these parts is occupied by the
palace, the others are subdivided by streets 55 feet wide, and
these again are crossed by lanes 27| feet wide.
100
Storg of fbc ^ajpntmra pbston
in Jaipur and enter his service. Dr. Valentine was
unwilling to leave Beawar, but he felt that God was
in His providence calling him to enter by the opening
thus made. He therefore accepted the offer, and
remained as private physician of the Maharajah and
as Minister of Education.
§ 93. In his new position he had opportunities of
doing much good in the state, of which he availed him-
self, but he also carried on a successful
Dr. Valentine’s . . . .
mission work mission work. He was joined by Hassain
and its first- Ali from Nasirabad, and for a time had
fruits.
the help of another agent from Agra ; and
bazar preaching was begun and regularly carried on.
Shortly after it began, a high - caste Brahman was
attracted by it, was led to make further inquiry, and,
after some conversations with the catechist and Dr.
Valentine, declared his faith in Jesus Christ. He
went to Beawar, and was there baptized by the name
of Isa Das. Three more were baptized by Mr. Robson
when passing through Jaipur in the beginning of 1868.
In 1871 a piece of ground conveniently situated and
suitable for a bungalow was gifted by
gaiow secured, the Maharajah to Dr. Valentine. This he
Mission estab- once made over to the United Pres-
byterian Mission Board for a mission
bungalow ; and a footing being thus secured, the Rev.
John Traill, accompanied by Mrs. Traill, settled there
as a full agent of the Board in 1872. When he had
to go home in 1876, the Rev. George Macalister went
there from Beawar, and carried on the work.
§ 94. The position of Dr. Valentine was felt, how-
ever, by the other missionaries to be equivocal. When
he entered the service of the Maharajah he wrote to
the Mission Board informing it of what he had done,
Pbsbns itt stales — faipur
101
and leaving it to determine his relation to the Church.
It decided to continue to recognise him as one of its
agents, and to give him on loan to the
Maharajah of Jaipur for a year. At the
ties of Dr. close of the year, however, the question of
posHion16 S his relationship to the Board did not come
up, nor was it again discussed, so he con-
tinued still to occupy the double position of a servant of
the Mission Board and a servant of the Jaipur state.
When it was resolved to have another agent settled
there, there was still no reconsideration of Dr.
Valentine’s relation to the Board, and thus the mission
drifted into a position which occasioned a good deal of
Objection of difficulty. The other missionaries felt that
other mission- Dr. Valentine’s position compromised theirs,
K and that as a servant of the Maharajah he
could help the mission more effectively if he were
formally separated from it. This led to a controversy
the details of Avhich need not he dwelt on. The matter
was at last brought before the Synod. In 1878 it
decided that the general rule must be maintained, that
agents should derive their emoluments
Synod™ °f ^ s°lely ^rom the funds of the society
appointing them, and should pay over to
that society any fees which they might receive — that
whatever exceptions might have been made in Dr.
Valentine’s case had been made on grounds reflecting the
highest honour on him, but that the anomalous position
in which he was must be brought to an end. At
Dr vale tin ’ same time, it intimated to Dr. Valentine
connection that in its opinion he might best serve the
with the mis- cause of missions by continuing in his
position under the Maharajah. Dr. Valen-
tine followed the advice of the Synod, and ceased to be
102
Storjr of % $lajputami piston
Agra Mission
Training
Institute.
formally recognised as an agent of the Church. He
still continued at Jaipur, diminishing nothing of his
evangelistic work, till 1880, when with the death of
the Maharajah his appointment ceased. He thereafter
went to Agra to superintend a Medical Mission Training
Institute, which he had been instrumental
in founding during the first year of his
residence in Jaipur. This Institute is meant
for the training of native Christians as medical mission-
aries to their countrymen. They attend the medical
classes at the Agra School of Medicine, reside in the
compound of the Institute, and are supervised and
receive some extra training at it. Dr. Valentine still
continues at this work, doing thus effective service to
the cause of missions.
§ 95. The effects of this controversy have retarded
a good deal the progress of the gospel in Jaipur. But
_ „ „ our two agents have continued doing effective
the work work, Mr. Macalister more specially in the
in Jaipur. department of education — the Anglo-Verna-
cular School having been brought to a high state of
efficiency, and the gospel in it being very carefully
taught — -and Mr. Traill in visitation in certain
districts of the city, and coming into close personal
contact with various orders and castes, besides bazar
preaching and itinerancies conducted by both. There
have been several conversions of persons of high caste
and of prominent religious orders, and recently there
has been in some of the villages indication of a
general movement towards Christianity. Last year
31 adults were baptized in connection with this
mission. There is now a Christian community
of 164, and a communion roll of 55. Though
this is the oldest of the missions to the native
Ipsstonsi in Hatibe states — faijmr
103
states, it seems still to be exposed to more hostility
than any of the others. There are two
the work*1 10 8'0°d bungalows and one Zenana bungalow
erected on ground given by the state, but
they are at an inconvenient distance from the city.
Though money has for some years been subscribed
for building a church, the native Government have
steadily refused a site.
§ 96. Zenana work was begun in 1883 by Mrs.
Macalister, formerly Miss Procter, a Zenana agent, who,
after her marriage to Mr. Macalister, began
zenanas ^ doing work in Jaipur, getting admission to
many zenanas, and preparing the way for
others to follow. In the following year Miss Guillaumet
and Miss Katherine Miller settled in Jaipur. The
former continued to work there till her health obliged
her to resign in 1892. Miss Miller has, with an interval
of supplying vacancies at other stations, continued since.
The work was for some time shared by Miss Spalding
Anderson and Miss E. A. Gray, who have had to leave.
Miss Croll andMiss Steven are now settled there. These,
with six native agents, visit and teach in the zenanas
in the city, but the field is so large that not more than
three visits in the fortnight to each zenana can be over-
taken. There is also a girls’ school taught at the bun-
galow, composed of girls from the neighbouring village.
§ 97. There are one or two out-stations connected with
this mission, the most important of which is Sambhar.
This is a town situated by a large salt lake
sambhar°nS' 011 condnes °f Jaipur and Marwar, both
of which states derive from it considerable
revenues. It is within a few hours’ reach of Jaipur by
rail. For some years a mission school has been established
there, and two native Christian agents have been labour-
104 i&torg of fbe ^puttma Ulisston
ing there. Several of last year’s baptisms were in this
place and the vicinity.
Udaipur
§ 98. Udaipur is the capital of Mewar, the oldest and
most honourable of the Hindu states. It stretches
from the river Banas southward to the
o^Mewaif0m confines °f Malwa, and from the Haraoti
states to Guzerat westward. It has a total
area of 12,753 square miles ; the eastern part is mostly a
fertile plain ; the Aravalli hills occupy the northern and
western part. Its population is 1,727, 899. 1 It is ruled
by the Sisodias, a branch of the Solar race, who have
sat on the throne for upwards of twelve hundred years.
The sovereign, from an early incident in their history,
is called Ran a or Maharana, instead of Raja or Maharaja,
as the other Hindu princes are called. Their former
capital was Chitor, a strongly-fortified hill, or rather
tableland, to the east of Mewar. This was three times
taken by the Mohammedans, and on each occasion the
terrible rite of the Johar was performed. When further
defence seemed hopeless, the Rajputs,
its history. liaving seen that a scion of the royal house
was conveyed away to a place of safety, clothed them-
selves in saffron robes, rushed out on the foe, neither
giving nor receiving quarter till they were all cut to
pieces. Meanwhile a huge pyre had been erected in
the city; the Rajput women mounted on it with all
their jewellery, set fire to it, and “rejoined their lords
through the flames.” They did this in the belief that, if
they did so, Mewar would never become subject to the
foreign foe.
1 Viz. Hindus, 1,327,188 ; Jains, 93,734 ; Mohammedans, 59,743 ;
Ilill tribes, 247,096 ; the rest being mainly Christians.
ISlissimts in Dtafifn States — t&baipur
105
§ 99. The last of these sakas, as they are called, was
in the time of Akbar. The infant of the royal race, who
was then preserved, was Udai Singh. He
Foundation of wag removed to the care of the Bhils of the
Udaipur.
Aravalli hills, and when he grew up was
proclaimed Rana of Mewar. Ever since then, each new
ruler when enthroned, has the tilak, or frontal mark of
sovereignty, affixed by a Bhil chief. Udai Singh built
the new capital in the midst of the Aravalli hills,
and called it by his name, Udaipur. This capital has
never been in the possession of a hostile force. The
Ranas were obliged to acknowledge for a time the
suzerainty of the Delhi emperors, but they did so on
honourable terms, not being required to
of the house send a daughter to the zenana of the
of Mewar. emperor. The other Rajput houses did so,
and in consequence their alliances were rejected by the
Mewar house. When the Rajputs threw off the Moslem
yoke, they naturally wished again to be received into
alliance by the Rana, but he refused to grant this
unless he were recognised as head of the Rajputs. Since
then he has been looked up to as the most honourable
of the Hindus.
§ 100. It will be observed from this sketch of the
history of Udaipur that it is a Hindu state, which has
R uit f remained under its old constitution from be-
Mewar fore Mohammedan times. Its heroic defence
history. 0f the old Hindu faith against foreign in-
vaders is the great glory of its history, and gives additional
strength to that faith in the minds of its people now. In it
we see the old Hindu civilisation, especially in the matter
of buildings, better preserved than in any of the other
states. The Ranas were great in the arts of peace as
well as of war. Their most noted works are the great
106 $l)e ^torg of % mputaita fHissiott
Lakes of
Mewar.
talaos — tanks, or artificial lakes — by which they
retained all the water they could in their comparatively
arid land, and secured fertility amid its comparative
waste. The largest of these lakes is the
Dhebar, or Jaisamand, to the south of
Udaipur. It is nine miles at its greatest
length, and five miles at its greatest breadth. It covers
in all twenty-one square miles, being about three times
the size of Loch Katrine.
Udaipur, the capital, is situated by the side of one of
these lakes. The palace is situated on a hill on the
south side, rising abruptly from the waters,
capTui1' the aiRf the city slopes down from it, somewhat
irregularly built. Two island palaces in the
lake, and the distant perspective of mountains beyond,
make the scene one of the most beautiful in India. It
had a population in 1891 of 40,693, of whom 28,000
were Hindus, and 9000 Mohammedans, and 6000 Jains.
§ 101. The action of the Conference and the opening
of the station at Udaipur have already been noticed.1
There threatened to be at one time a collision
ThlGcttGIlGd
difficulty in with the Church of England Missionary
opening the Society, which was at this time instituting
a mission to the Phils of Mewar, with
Udaipur as a centre. After some negotiation, it was
arranged that its missionaries should work from Kher-
wara, about fifty miles to the south, and the United
Presbyterian missionaries should work from Udaipur.
Dr. Shepherd arrived in Udaipur on 17th November
1877, accompanied by Isa Das of Ajmer as
Dr^shejffierd^ catech'sb and Lala as colporteur. He was
going to a place about twelve marches dis-
tant from the nearest of our stations, where he had the
1 See § 34.
Passions in ^atibt States — ttbaipnr
107
Difficulties
overcome.
prospect of great isolation ; but God opened up the
way before him, and gave him to feel that He was
with him. From the few Europeans there he received
much sympathy and help. There were also many of
the natives favourable to his settling among them, and
the prejudices of the others were soon overcome.
Among those most favourable was Rao Bhakt Singh,
C.I.E., of Bedla; by whose help he secured a native
house in the city, in which he began work on the
3rd December. He was obliged at first to live in tents.
When the hot weather came on, the Rana gave him the
use of an open corridor, where he spent the
hot season and rains with tolerable comfort.
On the other hand, the favourite courtier of
the Rana was very bitterly opposed to him. But, his
daughter falling ill, he was fain to call in Dr. Shepherd,
who treated her successfully, and won the father’s heart.
He said to him shortly after, “ I was opposed to the
coming of your mission, and so were many others, but
now, if you were wishing to go, we would not let you
leave.” By the help of his friends, and with the sanction
of the Rana, Dr. Shepherd secured a piece of ground
well suited for a bungalow, and began its erection.
These were the most notable incidents of the first year
of the mission.
§ 102. Meanwhile the ordinary mission agencies were
being conducted by Dr. Shepherd and his native assist-
ants— schools, colportage, and preaching in
baptisms the bazars and in the hospital. The first
baptism was in 1879, when a Mohammedan,
Khuda Bakhsh, received the ordinance ; and in the
year following, Nirbhay Das, a Brahman of remarkable
character and history, was admitted to the Church. He
had heard the gospel first from Dr. Shepherd about five
108 ®ljj £>torg of tlie $lnjputana gfisahra
years before. He followed him afterwards to Udaipur,
and after a long period of darkness and doubt was, by
the guidance of the Spirit, led to decide for Jesus.
These were baptized by brethren from other stations,
who happened to be in Udaipur ; but in October of that
Dr. Shepherd year Dr. Shepherd was ordained by the
ordained. Raj pu tana Presbytery, and so was able to
discharge the full work of a missionary.
SHEPHERD MISSION HOSPITAL, UDAIPUR.
§ 103. When Dr. Shepherd went home on furlough
in 1883, he received testimonials as to the high esteem
in whicli he was held, both from the Council
new hospital an<^ ^rom a Illml*)el' °f ^ie principal nobles
in the state. While at home, the Students’
Missionary Society gathered money for a new hospital in
Udaipur. His place during his absence was taken by
pissioirs in |(atif>t Hiatts — ®baipnr
109
Dr. James Sommerville. He successfully treated the
Rana for a dangerous illness, and secured as a fee the
grant of a valuable piece of ground in the city for the
erection of an hospital. A letter of thanks was sent by
the Board to the Rana, which he received with much
gratification. Shortly after, 26th December 1884, he
died, just after Dr. Shepherd returned to Udaipur. His
successor, the present Rana, a man of sterling, upright
character, has shown himself quite as friendly to the
mission. He presided at the opening of the mission
hospital in 1886, and expressed his desire that it should
be called the Shepherd Mission Hospital. The new
hospital is well situated and commodious, and has greatly
facilitated the medical mission work. Some time after
it was opened, its first-fruits appeared in Chet Singh, a
young Rajput, who had there heard the gospel.
§ 104. Shortly after this a new development of the
mission took place in the form of work among the Bhils.
They occupy the hills to the north of Udaipur.
They are divided into clans called Pals , at the head
of each of which is a Gameti. Isa Das, the catechist,
in conducting village work, lost his way,
“mong and was received by one of the Gametis,
the Bhils. J ’
through whom he was introduced to other
chiefs ; and by his tact he induced some of them to visit
the mission house. This led to visits of Dr. Shepherd
among them. He soon secured their confidence, and
was admitted to their “brotherhood.” As a means of
influencing them more permanently, he induced the
chiefs to promise to send their sons to him for education
— and with the Bhils a promise is sacred.
Bh™Home °f a He at once set about erecting a Home for them,
and soon he had twenty-five boys sent to
him. Their parents were too poor to support them, and
110
0% Slorg of llje fStisstoir
Dr. Shepherd was in some anxiety as to how the Home
could be supported ; but he committed the case to God,
and soon found support. The Rana and the chief men
of the city took great interest in the scheme. The
former gave an acre of land for the boys to cultivate, and
the latter subscribed nearly three hundred rupees with-
out being solicited. It is now taken up as one of the
regular schemes of the Church. The boys are trained
in general knowledge, and in some of the useful arts —
UDAIPUR CHURCH.
some as hospital assistants. Some of the older boys
have declared their desire to be baptized ; and the in-
fluence of the mission over the tribe is growing. It is
to be hoped that it will be won to Christianity before
the Brahmanising process has taken effect.
§ 105. The general work at the station has been going
on steadily. The Anglo- Vernacular school is increasing-
in efficiency. There is a good girls’ school in the bazar,
Ill
Pissiorts in $[attfre States — Jaipur
conducted by native Christian women, and a beginning
has also been made in teaching some in their
Female 0wn ]lomes> There is also a girls’ school
education. b # °
at Arh, a village a little way out from
Udaipur. Several baptisms, though still only in units,
have taken place, some of which are of a very interesting
character, but space does not allow of their
of th^misslon being told. A handsome church was opened
in 1891. There is now a Christian com-
munity of about 50, with a church membership of 22.
CHAPTER IX
missions in native states continued — ALWAR,
JODHPUR, KOTAH.
Alwar
§ 106. Alwar lies to the north-east of Jaipur. In
extent it is the seventh of the Rajput states, having an
area of 3144 square miles, and in population
“d itS the fifth, having a population of 767,787.
It is generally fertile. The Aravalli hills
run through the centre, dividing it into two parts, pretty
nearly equal. It is a comparatively modern state. Its
founder was a Rajput of the X urukha clan, one of the
soldiers of fortune who, at the breaking up of the
Mohammedan empire, acquired dominion for themselves.
Its rulers have been enlightened men, quite in sympathy
with progressive ideas. During the minority of the late
Maharajah, under the Political Agent, Colonel Cadell,
great improvements were introduced, which have been
continued. In education, excellence of prison discipline,
and general administration, Alwar occupies a foremost
place among the states of Raj pu tana.
Of the population, 180,000 are Mohammedans, a
larger proportion than in any other Rajput
the Meos°n ' s^te. They are mostly Meos or Mewattis,
and abound chiefly in the northern part of
the kingdom. They are the aborigines of the country, in
112
fissions in ^atike Staffs — gilfoar
113
many respects like the Mers, and from their contiguity
probably to Delhi were Islamised before the Brahmans
brought them into the Hindu system. Their Moham-
medanism is, however, very corrupt, and greatly overlaid
with idolatry. Of the Hindus, the Rajputs number
only about 28,000, and the Brahmans about 73,000.
The leather workers are 83,000, and the Mehtars
13,000.
§ 107. The capital, of the same name, is about half-way
between J aipur and Delhi, being a little over ninety miles
distant from both. It is picturesquely
The capital, situated to the south of a steep fortified
the inhabitants. section of the Aravallis, which rises like a
rampart to the north, adding to the pictur-
esqueness of the city, but reflecting the heat, and making
it intolerable in the hot weather. The city is well
built and clean, and has about it several beautiful
gardens. It has a population of over 51,000, of whom
about one-fourth are Mohammedans. Idolatry has not
such a prominent outward appearance in it as in other
Rajput cities. The people are more given to worldliness,
avarice, and lust ; and the secret “ Panths,” or licentious
guilds, are said to be very strong.
§ 108. Alwar was not one of the states contemplated
in the extension movement of 1876, but the very
circumstance which prevented its being
Work of Mr. . . 0
st. Daimas. thought of then led to its being occupied
before either Jodhpur or Kotah. The
Rev. Henry D. St. Daimas, of the Baptist Mission,
was already beginning work there. He laboured
for some time with great acceptance, and left his
mark on the place. He gathered a few native con-
verts, and organised school and other missionary work
— his chief coadjutor being Hassain Ali, a native of
8
114
$I)£ Utorg of t^e ^lajjjutana Pxsswn
the place, whose conversion at Nasirabad has been
work taken up narrated. In 1879, Mr. St. Dalmas met
by the United with severe domestic affliction, broke down
rJTrian in health, and was obliged to leave for
Mr. Jameson home. Anxious that the result of his
settled. labours should not be lost, he applied to the
United Presbyterian Mission to send an agent there.
The Maharajah had given Mr. St. Dalmas the use of a
bungalow, in a garden called Fazl-ka-bagh (The Garden
of Favour), and offered to continue it to any missionary
who might he sent. The missionaries had not time to
refer the matte me ; the policy of the Church was in
favour of consolidation rather than extension, but the case
was urgent. No expense would be incurred in beginning
the mission, so Mr. Jameson was appointed to go thither,
and went with Mrs. Jameson to take up the work in the
beginning of 1880.
§ 109. Mr. Jameson continued to work there till 1890,
developing the different missionary agencies, educational
Purchase of and evangelistic. He went home on furlough
school. in 1882 ; and while at home raised funds
church and for mission premises, a church and school, in
bungalow. which he was abundantly successful. Mr.
A. D. Gray, who carried on the work in his absence,
secured a large native house and ground in the city,
which, with a little alteration, did well for the Anglo-
Vernacular school ; the attendance at it soon rose to
upwards of 300. The church was subsequently erected
on a site gifted by the Maharajah, and opened in 1885.
It is capable of holding about 300, and is conveniently
situated near one of the busiest parts of the city. The
Maharajah also granted a piece of ground for the
erection of a regular dwelling-house for the missionary,
which was soon erected. The same year that witnessed
115
Pisstotts in llatik Platts — gilfeat
the opening of the church witnessed the first in-
gathering of converts into the Church of
First converts. Qprjsj-_ The liayve Christians at the station
had come from other parts. Several of the heathen in
the city had at times declared their conviction of the
truth of Christianity, hut in 1885 four were baptized
into the faith of Christ, and others have followed
since.
Mr. Jameson was joined in 1885 by Mr. Ashcroft,
who got accommodation in a bungalow that had been
erected for the use of engineers when the railway was
being constructed. Mr. Jameson was transferred to
Nasirabad in 1890, and his place was taken by Mr.
M‘Innes. The usual agencies are being carried on.
Besides the church and central school in buildings
belonging to the mission, Vernacular schools taught by
Christian pundits are carried on with great spirit in hired
buildings in different quarters of the city. There was
116
Storji of Hje i&ajputaua Pissioit
Female edu-
cation.
neighbouring state of Rewari
in 1892 a Christian community of 53, with a church
membership of 28.
§ 110. Work among the women was begun by Mrs.
Jameson in 1886, and carried on subsequently by Mrs.
Ashcroft and Mrs. MTnnes. A girls’ school
had been established some time before as an
offshoot of the work of the S.P.G. in the
It was handed over to
Mr. Jameson in 1887, and has since been carried
steadily on. The schoolhouse was kept up by the
Maharajah till his death. He also gave ten rupees a
month to the work, on condition of the mission ladies
inspecting the four girls’ schools established by the Raj.
Zenana visitation is also kept up by the ladies, assisted
by native agents.
§ 111. There is an out-station at Bandikui, the junc-
tion of the Agra and Delhi lines, about thirty-seven miles
from Alwar. There is here a considerable European and
Eurasian population connected with the railway, and a
large native town is gathering round it. Here an Anglo-
Vernacular school under Christian teachers has been
carried on for some time, and the gospel is preached in
the bazar.
Jodhpur
§ 112. Marwar,1 the most extensive of the Rajput
states, stretches north-west from the Aravalli hills. It
.. has an area of about 35,000 square miles,
extent and Along the base of the Aravallis, and in
population. occasional patches throughout the country,
the ground is fertile, but generally it is desert. The
1 Marwar is explained by Tod to mean the country of death.
Lassen explains it to mean the country of sand, and this is the
explanation given by all native pundits whom I have asked.
ptmoits m ^atifre states — fobJjjjttr
117
population numbered 2,519,868 in 1891. Of these,
178,000 were Mohammedans, 167,000 Jains, and the
remainder, with few exceptions, Hindus. The Bajputs
number 244,700, a larger proportion than in any other
state ; but the most numerous caste is the Jats — 315,457.
The Brahmans number 202,000. The Mehtars are few in
number, 1297 ; and the leather workers, 264,000.
§ 113. The history of Marwar is interesting. When
the great Gangetic kingdom of Kanauj was overthrown
by the Mohammedans at the close of the
Marwar.°f twelfth century, a small band of Bahtors,
Foundation of the royal clan, under Jodh Singh, fled into
present state. Qreat Desert. They dispossessed the
Parihars who reigned at Mandor, and near it founded
the modern capital, called after their leader, Jodhpur.
They multiplied in numbers, and by degrees sub-
dued the whole of Marwar. When, two hundred
years later, Baber, the founder of the Moghul Empire
in India, invaded Marwar, he was encountered by
thirty thousand Bahtor warriors, the progeny of the
small band that originally fled thither. Though de-
feated, and subject for some time to the Mohammedan
empire, their spirit of independence remained. They
rose in revolt against Aurungzeb. Thirty
Struggle with ° ° J
the Moham- years of internecine war followed — as
medans. celebrated in Bajputana as the Thirty
Years’ War in Germany. The Bahtors were often
driven to the recesses of the Aravallis, but they
issued thence again and again, and at last drove
the Mohammedans entirely from Marwar, and re-estab-
lished the Hindu religion. Marwar accepted the British
suzerainty somewhat grudgingly, and with a jealous
conservation of its territorial rights.
The air of the desert has given a character of inde-
118
jj t &torg of % $ajputnnn ^fission
Influence of
history and
climate on
character.
pendence, sometimes almost bordering on insolence, to
the Rahtors. This is manifest also in their
religious character. While given over to
idolatry and enslaved by its worst vices, they
are less priest-ridden than almost any other
class of Hindus, and believe more in Rahtors than in
Brahmans. The influence of the desert is seen on all the
inhabitants of Marwar. They cling to their desert home
with the strongest affection. The struggle for existence
there has braced their faculties. In the com-
weaith of mercial centres of India the Marwarls are
Marwar.
known as the keenest and most successful
FORT OF JODHPUR.
traders. But when they have made their money they
return with it to their beloved Marwar, and in the towns
of that land is stored gold and silver in an abundance
that could never be imagined from the character of the
soil.
§ 114. The capital, Jodhpur, is situated about eight
miles north of the Aravallis. A branch of the Rajputana
railway passes it, going on to Bikaner. It is situated
at the foot of a steep eminence, on which rises the
Pissions in states — lobjjpar
119
citadel and royal palace, a noble pile of red sandstone
buildings. A wall surrounds the city, but
me capita.! ,
Jodhpur and the sand has m many parts silted up higher
other cities of than it. The town is irregularly built, and
is thoroughly Oriental m its character. It
contains many fine sandstone buildings, large tanks, and
some gardens raised with labour from the soil. It has a
population of 61,849. There are several other large
towns in the state, the chief of which are Pali and Sojat
to the south, Jhalor to the east, and Merta to the west.
§ 115. In 1877 the occupation of Jodhpur as a
mission station was recommended by the Rajputana
Conference, and a deputation that visited it
^i^appoiuted rePorted favourably as to the prospects of a
missionary. mission there. It was not, however, till
reception^16 ^ginning of 1885 that the mission staff
was strong enough to allow Dr. James
Sommerville, who had been officiating in Udaipur in Dr.
Shepherd’s absence, to proceed thither with the view of
founding a station. Instead of meeting the favourable
reception which he had been led to expect, he found,
owing to some misunderstanding, that a strong pre-
judice existed against the mission. Obstacles of every
kind were placed in his way. He was unable to find
any place in which he could stay, and was obliged to
go to Beawar.
§ 116. Next cold weather, committing his way to God,
he returned, accompanied by Rati Ram as a native
agent. By the influence of a native friend
Attempt ° . J
renewed. in Ajmer, the head of one of the religious
Obstacles houses near Jodhpur placed at his disposal
overcome.
a garden. There he took up his abode in
the verandah of the lowest storey of the large building
occupied by the “Abbot,” and there he began to hold
120
SCfjc ^toi'g of fljo $laj{jntmta Pissiott
Christian worship, and treat those who came to him for
advice. From there he visited the city daily, trying how
lie might gain a footing in it, in opposition to the
ruling powers, who absolutely refused to countenance
him, though they had not absolutely forbidden his enter-
ing the city. Urgent in prayer to God, he at last found
a house in every way well suited for the work. Thither
he removed his abode, and there he began medical
HOSPITAL, JODHPUR.
mission work. Every morning the usual evangelistic
address was delivered to the assembled patients and
their friends. The number of cases increased so that
Dr. Sommerville was obliged to get additional assistants,
and the building had to be enlarged. A bookshop
also was opened, by means of which useful work was
done.
§ 117. The chief hindrance to the work was now the
want of a suitable residence. Dr. Sommerville was
joined by his wife and family during the cold season,
Pissifftts in ^atiiu J&tatrs — foirljjjur
121
Difficulties
from want of
a residence.
Residence
secured.
but they were obliged to leave when the hot weather
came on. All the ground in the neighbour-
hood of the city belonged to the Maharajah,
and though one after the other nearly all the
nobles and officers of state had been won over
by Dr. Sommerville’s tact and skill, he still
refused to grant a site or sanction the erection of a build-
ing.
Here again there was nothing to do but to commit
the matter in prayer to God ; and the answer came at last,
beyond what had been asked or thought. After many
months’ waiting, Dr. Sommerville was suddenly informed
one day that the Marharajah had directed a bungalow
to be built at his own cost for the use of the mission.
An English officer of high Christian character, who
had been stationed at Jodhpur and won the esteem of
the Maharajah, had died. The Maharajah, to show his
respect for him, resolved to erect a memorial to him, and
asked his widow what form she would like it to take.
She replied that the memorial she would like best, and
which her husband would have liked best, was the grant-
ing of a site for a mission bungalow. The Maharajah
was at first unwilling to accede to this, but at last not
only did so, but resolved to erect the bungalow at his
own expense for the use of the mission.
§ 118. The house was completed, and entered in the
close of 1887, and since then the work has been going
steadily on, though difficulties have been
experienced from the character of the place.
School work has been begun, but has not
been far developed. Open - air preaching has been
judiciously carried on in various quarters of the city.
Medical mission work is still the main feature, and it
has secured the confidence of the entire population.
Once and again presents have been made by the Darbar
Progress of
work.
122
SCIjc ^Storg of % $lajjjuttma pissioit
or court for the more efficient equipment of the
dispensary.
In 1888 the first baptism took place — that of a
Brahman from a neighbouring village — and several have
followed since. In 1892 there was a
Results. Christian community of thirty-one, of whom
seventeen were church members. Dr. Sommerville has
made some itinerancies in Marwar, but one missionary
cannot do much in a state as large as Scotland.
Kotah
§ 119. Kotah was formerly part of the kingdom of
Bundi, whose rulers, the Haras, were renowned as the
most fiercely brave of all the Rajputs. When
stateof ^otah. it} was <llvided into two, the younger branch
of the family got Kotah. This included at
first the state of Jhalawar, but at the beginning of this
century the latter was formed into a separate state, and
conferred on the prime minister of Kotah, Zalim Singh,
to reward him for his eminent services to the state and to
the empire.
Kotah has a superficial area of 3784 square miles, and
a population of 526,267, of whom about 34,000 are
Mohammedan and 5000 Jain. The Rajputs
andPfertiiityn are un<^er 16,000, and the Brahmans about
38,000. The hill tribes number upwards
of 77,000. A considerable part of the soil is rocky,
but the greater part is the most fertile in Rajputana.
The river Chambul flows through the state, and along
its banks for miles the cereals of the cold-weather crops
are raised without the help of irrigation. Kotah has
been called the Garden of Rajputana, and fruit is raised
here in greater abundance and greater perfection than
fissions in |(atibe states — Jiotab
123
The capital.
Mr Bormar
appointed.
Cordial re-
ception.
anywhere else. The Mcilis , or gardeners, number 41,000,
and are more numerous than any of the agricultural
castes.
The capital is situated on the banks of the Chambul, at
a part where it flows, a broad, deep stream, between pre-
cipitous picturesque banks. It is noted
chiefly for its beautiful and extensive gardens.
Hospitals for male and female patients have been estab-
lished, and there is a fairly good college. The population
is 38,624, of whom a quarter are Mohammedans.
§ 120. This state had been designated in 1877 as one
of those that should be occupied, but the
exigencies of other parts of the field pre-
vented anything being done till March 1889,
when the Eev. William Bonnar went there.
He had frequently, on itinerancies from Deoli, visited
Kotah, and had formed friendships with many of the
chief men there. They had expressed their readiness
to receive a mission, and welcomed him cordially when
he went to settle. He soon secured a good site for a
bungalow, which was erected from funds raised by the
College Missionary Society.
§ 121. Mr. Bonnar resolved to avoid from the begin-
ning the evils which experience had shown to attach
to some of the older methods. He opened
Vernacular schools in one or two districts of
the city, and put them under Christian
The people did not show any distrust of them,
and the schools were soon well attended. There was a
good high school in the city supported by the Raj, under
a Christian headmaster. Mr. Bonnar did not open an
Anglo-Vernacular school, but invited the boys of the
two senior classes to form a club for the discussion of
religious questions in English — they to write short essays
Methods of
work.
teachers.
124
®b IStnrjr of lb mpnlmta pbsioir
in English, which he would correct. The lads took up
the subject very enthusiastically, chiefly on account of
the prospect which it gave them of getting good practice
in English. The writer was present in 1891 at one of
the meetings of the club. It was held under the shade
of some majestic trees in one of the splendid gardens
near the city, where chairs and benches were arranged.
About twenty-five young men were present, and the sub-
ject of discussion was, “ Marks of a True Religion.” Each
read a short essay, and Mr. Bonnar summed up the whole.
§ 122. When Mr. Bonnar went to Kotah, he married
Dr. Grant, one of the Zenana medical agents. She
Mrs Bonnar’s was aPP°inted superintendent of the new
work and female hospital opened by the Raj, and
deatti. thus secured an official position. She
opened a school for girls in the centre of the city, the
upper storey of which was used on Sunday for the native
church. She soon secured the confidence and affection
of the people, and was welcomed in their homes. Going
one day to visit the child of a native Christian ill with
smallpox, she caught the infection, and was carried off
by the deadly malady. She was mourned by all classes
of the community, and the Council of Regency voted
Rs. 1000 to erect some memorial of her. It was set
aside as the nucleus of a fund for the erection of a church,
the site for which has since been secured.
The mission here has been only a short time in
existence, and no definite fruit has yet
been gathered. The Christians (15 communi-
cants, 36 adherents) are mostly from the
other stations.
Present state
of mission.
CHAPTER X
RESULTS AND PROSPECTS.
§ 123. This sketch of the Rajputana Mission is little
more than a history of beginnings. The results as yet
achieved may not seem great, but they are
results^1' of encouraging. The general facts that have
been stated with regard to India in general
show the difficulties which the gospel has to encounter
in that field, and the special facts stated with regard
to Rajputana and the various states show the special
difficulties that have to be encountered in them. Yet
in every place we have entered, the beginning of a
Church has been established. As yet conversions have
been witnessed only in units, not in masses. But is not
this the true idea of conversion 1 and the conversion of
multitudes is real and valuable only when it means the
conversion of the individuals in these multitudes.
Among those who have been converted are signal
triumphs of divine grace. It would be hardly possible
to find in India cases that, humanly speaking, seemed
less likely to be won to Christ than some that have
been won. If the Holy Spirit be given in His power
and fulness, we shall see these results multiplied a
hundredfold. And is God not waiting for the earnest
and unfailing prayers of His people to grant an out-
pouring of the Spirit to bless these efforts in such results 1
125
126
%\t JSlorji of tljc mputsma Ulissioit
§ 124. We may also conclude that we have just to
persevere in the use of the same means and methods
_ that have been used in the past. While
in the use of it is ever true that the men are more
the means. important than the methods, yet we must
also see to it that the methods they employ are not such
as would hinder instead of helping what personal power
they have in their great aim of making known the
gospel. When our mission was established in Rajputana,
missionary methods which were then not questioned had
been in operation in other fields, and the first mission-
aries to Rajputana naturally adopted them, and adapted
them to the special circumstances of the field they had
to occupy. In working out the details of some of them,
errors may have been committed, which are now being-
corrected. But this must be done patiently, and not
till we are sure that other plans which we might
substitute are more likely to be efficacious. Other
methods have produced more immediate superficial
results, but they have not stood the test so well. And,
taken as a whole, we have every reason to uphold the
hands of our missionaries in the work and the manner
of the work they are doing.
§ 125. In seeking the further development of the
native Church, the Church at home must not expect too
Need of pati- much from it, and must be ready to help
ence and for- it generously for some time to come. Those
th^parTonhe who have come out of heathenism cannot
Churcii at be expected to have the same strong
home' character as those who have been reared
in Christianity. We may expect them to contribute to
the support of ordinances from the very beginning, but
to insist on their being self-supporting, and not allowing
a native pastor to be settled over a native church till it
can pay his salary, is simply to throw hack the real
independence of the native Church many years. What
we need is good men to lead the native Christians.
The native congregations, or some of them, might contri-
bute enough to pay a salary to a minister, which, tested
by the average income of the members, would be liberal,
and would put him in a respectable position. But if
he is a good man, he will at once be tempted to enter
the service of other missionary societies by salaries half
as large again, or twice as large as any that any of the
congregations in Rajputana can offer; and to be a
missionary to their heathen countrymen is quite as high
a work as to be a pastor over their Christian countrymen.
The question of the self-support of native Christians
themselves is not yet so completely solved as to throw
on them the support of the native Church ; and the
true policy for the Church at home to follow is to try
to encourage the best men among the native Christians
to come forward to the ministry, and get them to make
it a matter of honour to lead their congregations toward
self-support as soon as possible.
§ 126. There remains the question of the duty of
the Church in the extension of the mission. If the
results seem meagre, we must allow that the
sion™6 6Xpan" agency by which they have been attained,
as compared with the extent of the field,
is more meagre still. The British district is fairly well
occupied as things go in India ; but, compared even with
Inadequacy of °^ier mission fields, the labourers in it are
the agency few. Its population, includingtliatof Kishan-
empioyed. garb, is about the same as that of Jamaica.
In it we have practically the whole field to ourselves; in
Jamaica there are strong missions besides our own. In it
we have only five stations, eight ordained European mis-
128 Sblj£ Sdorg of % llajjjafaua Piesimt
sionaries, and three ordained natives ; in Jamaica we have
fifty-two stations, nineteen ordained European mission-
aries, and twelve ordained natives. And what shall we
say of the manner in which we have occupied the
native states — all of them larger than the British district
— in each of which there seems to have been no thought
of stationing more than two missionaries — in three of
which there are as yet only one missionary, and one
of these, Jodhpur, a state as extensive as Scotland?
In view of this, it is well that we should carefully
consider what is the duty that lies before us.
§ 127. Here we must take a clear view of the limits
of our responsibilities. We need not pretend that we
can so occupy the whole of Rajputana as
responsibility to inake the work of any other missionary
society there superfluous. To occupy the
whole of Rajputana, as we have occupied the Ajmer
district, would require at least 160 ordained and
medical missionaries ; and it is just at Ajmer, where
we are strongest, that other missions have entered and
found a field to work. All that we can pretend to do
is to plant a strong mission in each of the places which,
by divine guidance, we may he led to occupy. Mean-
er while, we do not need to contemplate any-
Strengthenmg ’ . ... J
of present thing more than an efficient mission in the
stations. capital of each state which we may enter,
hut efficient we must seek to make it. This would
require us to send at least one additional agent to three
of the capitals we have already occupied — Udaipur,
Jodhpur, and Kotah — and till this is done we need not
think of opening a new station.
When this has been done, there is still a vast field for
extension even on this limited scale. Leaving to the
Canadian Mission in Central India the four southern
129
gUralts nub prospects
states, Bans war a, Dungarpur, Partabgarh, and Jhalawar ;
and to the missions working from Agra, the states of the
Eastern Agency, Karaoli, Dholpur, and Bhartpur ; leav-
ing out of account, too, the smaller chieftainships, there
remain five states, Bikaner,1 Jaisalmer, Sirohi, Tonk, and
Bundi, which have neither a station nor
be taken up t0 out-station in which the gospel is preached.
If other missions should be ready to enter
these states before we are, we must remember that our
aim is to win Rajputana for Christ, not for the United
Presbyterian Church— must cordially welcome them to
the field, and must seek further expansion and consolida-
tion within the sphere we already occupy. Meanwhile,
so long as no others are prepared to occupy the ground,
these are the fields which, with the expanding liberality
of the Church, we may hope to occupy. Let us hope
and pray that the Spirit of Jesus may so quicken us
that this shall be realised at no very distant date.
1 Since the above was written, the Mission Board has resolved
to open a mission in Bikaner, to which the Bev. Anderson
Brown is appointed first missionary.
9
BUNDI FROM DEOLX ROAD.
130
APPENDIX
ANNALS OF INDIAN MISSION
1844.
1855.
1857.
1>
1858. May.
„ Nov.
1859.
1860. Feb.
1861.
Appointment of Mr. John Murdoch as Government
teacher in Ceylon.
Appointment of Mr. Murdoch as agent of South
India Christian School Book Society : salary paid
by Wellington Street United Presbyterian Church,
Glasgow.
Indian Mutiny.
Formation of Indian Christian Vernacular Education
Society : appointment of Mr. Murdoch as secretary :
half of salary paid by United Presbyterian Church.
Resolution of United Presbyterian Synod to begin a
mission in India.
Adoption by Foreign Mission Committee of the pro-
vince of Ajmer, in Rajputana, as sphere of new
mission.
Ordination of Williamson Shoolbred, M.A., and
Thomas Blair Steele, as missionaries to India.
Baptism of Chinta Ram, by Dr. Wilson of Bombay,
at Erinpura, on the way to Beawar.
Feb. 19. Death of Mr. Steele at Erinpura.
Mar. 3. Arrival of Mr. Shoolbred, and Chinta Ram as native
evangelist, at Beawar.
Opening of school at Beawar.
Arrival at Beawar of Rev. John Robson, M.A., and
Mrs. Robson, and Rev. William Martin and Mrs.
Martin.
Opening of new station at Naslrabad by Mr. William
Martin.
Aug.
Feb.
Aug.
131
132 gippeubis
1861. Sept. Beginning of bazar preaching by Mr. Shoolbred.
,, Oct. First band of orphans (6) handed over to Mr. Shoo!
1862.
bred at Beawar.
Arrival of Dr. Colin S. Valentine, F.R.C.S.E., and
Mrs. Valentine, Rev. Auguste Glardon and Mrs.
Glardon, in mission field.
Settlement of Dr. Valentine as medical missionary at
Beawar.
> )
Settlement of Khan Singh as native evangelist at
Nasirabad.
„ Feb.
Opening of new station at Ajmer by Messrs. Robson
and Glardon, with Abd-ul-Masih as native evan-
,, Nov.
1863. Jan.
gelist.
Death of Abd-ul-Masih.
Arrival of Rev. William Robb, M. A., and Mrs. Robb,
at Nasirabad.
,, Jan. 25. Baptism of first native convert, Paul Bhisham, at
Beawar.
,, Settlement of Mr. John Drynan, lay missionary, at
Beawar.
,, Settlement of Robert Phillips, native evangelist, at
Ajmer.
,, Feb. 23. Death of Mrs. Valentine at Bombay.
,, June 8. First Christian marriage of natives at Beawar.
,, June 19. Baptism of first convert at Nasirabad (Bachman).
J J
,, Nov.
Mr. Glardon obliged to leave from ill-health.
First observance of Lord’s Supper by native Church
at Beawar.
,, Dec.
Opening of new station at Todgarli by Mr. Robb, and
Paul Bhisham as native evangelist.
1864. Feb.
Settlement of Rev. Gavin Martin, M.A., and Mrs.
Martin, at Nasirabad.
„ Feb.
Settlement of Rev. James Gray and Mrs. Gray
at Ajmer.
„ Feb.
Settlement of Rev. Andrew Shields, M.D., medical
missionary, at Todgarh.
,, Sept. 11. Baptism of first convert at Ajmer, Magan Bijai (Isa
Das).
1865. Arrival of Miss Bonnet (Mrs. Drynan) at Beawar.
,, Sept. 13. Death of Mrs. Gray at Ajmer.
„ Nov. 5. Baptism of first convert at Todgarli, Manawar Khan.
1866. Resignation of Mr. Glardon.
„ May. Settlement of Dr. Valentine at Jaipur in the service
of the Maharajah.
glpprabir
133
1866. Sept. 10. Death of Mrs. William Martin at Naslrabad.
1867. Jan. Settlement of Miss E. R. Alexander as Zenana agent
at Naslrabad.
,, Ang. 3. Death of Mr. Drynan at Beawar,
„ Oct. 13. Baptism of first convert from Jaipur at Beawar (Isa
1868. Feb.
Das).
Resignation of Dr. Shields.
Settlement of Rev. Robert Gray, M.D., medical
missionary, at Beawar.
1868-70.
1869.
Severe famine and locust plague in Rajputana.
Transference of Mrs. Drynan, Zenana agent, from
Beawar to Ajmer.
„ Resignation of Miss Alexander.
,, April 16. Death of Dr. Gray at Halena on way home.
,, Opening of famine relief works by missionaries at
Somalpura (Balakpura) and Gadheri (Ashapura).
Handing over of 500 orphans to the mission ; establish-
ment of orphanages at all the stations.
1870. Feb.
j j
Settlement of Rev. John Hendrie at Ajmer.
Settlement of Rev. William Bonnar at Naslrabad.
33
Settlement of Rev. John Traill at Beawar.
,, April.
Opening of new mission church and school at Ajmer.
June 15. Baptism of first mission orphans at Ashapura.
,, Dec.
3 3
Return of Mr. William Martin with Mrs. William
Martin to Naslrabad.
Arrival of Miss Kirk (Mrs. Traill) at Beawar.
Settlement of John Husband, F.R.C.S.E., medical
1871. March.
3 3
missionary, and Mrs. Husband, at Beawar.
Opening of new mission station at Deoli by Mr.
Bonnar.
Mr. Robson leaves the mission in bad health.
33
33
Settlement of Rev. George Macalister, M.A., at
Beawar.
Settlement of James Sommerville, M.A., L.R.C.P.E.,
3?
1872.
as medical missionary at Beawar.
Transference of Dr. Husband to Ajmer as medical
missionary there.
Formation of agricultural village for orphans at
Ashapura.
,, April.
1873. Jan.
Settlement of Mr. Traill at Jaipur.
Settlement of James Shepherd, M.A., M.D., as
medical missionary at Deoli.
„ Jan.
Settlement of William Clark, M.B., C.M., as medical
missionary, and Mrs. Clark, at Naslrabad.
134
1873. Mar. 2.
1874.
„ Oct. 29.
1875.
1876.
1877.
»>
1877-78.
1878.
1879. July 25.
1879-80.
1880.
>>
„ Oct. 12.
, , Oct. 27.
1881.
1882.
1883. July 17.
,, Oct. 25.
Opening of new church at Beawar.
Settlement of Rev. A. P. C. Jameson and Mrs. Jameson
at Todgarh.
Arrival of Mrs. Macalister, Mrs. Sommerville, and Mrs.
Hendrie in mission field.
Formation of Ashapura as separate station under Mr.
William Martin.
Death of Rev. Gavin Martin at Ashapura.
Resignation of Mr. Robson.
Settlement of Mdlle. Guillaumet of Geneva as Zenana
agent at Ajmer, supported by Geneva Church.
Appointment of Mrs. Gavin Martin, Zenana agent, at
Naslrabad.
Death of Mrs. Macalister at Ajmer.
Resignation of Mrs. Garin Martin, now Mrs. James
Gray.
Settlement of Rev. A. D. Gray, M.A., at Ajmer.
Transference of Mr. Hendrie to Naslrabad.
Opening of mission station at Alwar by Mr. St. John
Dalmas, of Baptist Mission.
Opening of new church at Deoli.
Opening of new station at Udaipur by Dr. Shepherd.
Resignation of Mr. Hendrie, Naslrabad.
Partial famine in Rajputana.
Dr. Valentine ceases to he formally an agent of the
mission.
Death of Mrs. William Martin at Ashapura.
Visit of Rev. David Young, D.D., and Duncan
M'Laren, jun., Esq., to Rajputana.
Station at Alwar handed over to United Presbyterian
Mission under Mr. Jameson.
Adoption by United Presbyterian Church of Zenana
Mission as a special branch of mission work.
Formation of Presbytery of Rajputana.
Ordination of Dr. Shepherd by Presbytery of Raj-
putana at Ajmer.
Settlement of Miss Katherine Miller and Miss Mary
Young, Zenana agents, at Ajmer.
Settlement of Miss Isabella Flett and Miss Lucy H.
Anderson, Zenana agents, at Naslrabad.
All orphanages closed except that of Beawar.
Settlement of Miss Mary M. Procter at Beawar.
Ordination of Dr. Husband at Ajmer.
Death of Rev. William Martin at Naslrabad.
135
1883. Nov. 7.
,, Dec.
1884, Mar. 12.
„ Nov.
1885. Mar. 1,
1886. Mar. 11,
,, Nov. 9.
„ Nov. 10.
„ Nov.
„ Nov.
,, Nov.
,, Dec. 28.
1887. April.
,, Sept. 18,
,, Dec. 18,
,, Dec.
„ Dec.
1888.
1889.
March.
Ordination of Dr. Sommerville at Ajmer.
Return of Miss Guillaumet as Zenana agent to Ajmer.
Establishment of printing press at Ajmer.
Licence of Amrah, Rama, Hasan Ali, Manawar Khan,
and Devi Ram as preachers.
Resignation of Miss Procter, now Mrs. Macalister.
Transference of Mr. M'Quistan to Ashapnra.
Settlement of Rev. Francis Ashcroft, M.A., and Rev.
J. Anderson Brown, M.A., at Beawar.
Settlement of Rev. John MTnnes, M.A., at Udaipur.
Settlement of Miss Agnes L. Jackson, Zenana agent,
at Naslrabad.
Transference of Mr. Ashcroft to Alwar.
Opening of new church at Alwar.
Commencement of Zenana work at Jaipur by Miss
Miller and Miss Guillaumet.
Opening of new station at Jodhpur by Dr. Sommerville.
Ordination of Amrah, native pastor, at Beawar.
Opening of Martin Memorial Church at Naslrabad.
Ordination of Devi Ram, native pastor, at Naslrabad.
Settlement of William Huntly, M.A., B.Sc., M.B.,
C.M., and Mrs. Huntly, at Beawar.
Settlement of Rev. William F. Martin, M.A., at
Naslrabad.
Settlement of Miss Robina N. Oubridge and Miss
Margaret S. Anderson at Naslrabad.
Arrival of Miss Ireland (afterwards Mrs. Bonnar),
Miss Agnes Robson (Mrs. Ashcroft), and Miss Jane
Gray (Mrs. MTnnes).
Opening of mission hospital (Shepherd Hospital) at
Udaipur.
Settlement of Miss Isabella C. Gow at Ajmer.
Resignation of Miss Flett.
Death of Mrs. Bonnar at Deoli.
Transference of Mr. Wm. F. Martin to Deoli.
Transference of Mr. MTnnes to Jaipur.
Settlement of Miss Euphemia A. Gray at Jaipur.
Arrival of Miss Lilia Robson (Mrs. W. F. Martin).
Closing of orphanage at Beawar.
Resignation of Mr. A. D. Gray.
Resignation of Miss M. Spalding Anderson.
Opening of new station at Kotah by Mr. Bonnar.
Settlementof Miss Jean Helen Grant, L.R.C.P. &S.E.,
at Ajmer, and Miss Jane S. Wilson at Jaipur.
136
gijjpettbH
1889.
1890.
1891.
J?
1892.
ii
> J
1893.
1894
Transference of Miss Gow to Beawar.
Transference of Mr. Jameson to Naslrabad, and of
Mr. MTnnes to Alwar.
Resignations of Miss Jackson, Miss Guillaumet, Miss
Jane S. Wilson, and Dr. J. H. Grant (afterwards
Mrs. Bonnar).
Settlement of Miss Catherine V. A. Hutton at Ajmer.
April 19. Death of Isa Das at Udaipur.
May 3. Death of Mrs. Bonnar at Kotah.
May 13. Death of Mrs. M'Quistan at Ashapura.
July 5. Opening of new church at Udaipur.
Resignation of Miss Oubridge.
Nov. Settlement of Rev. James Mair, M.A., and Mrs. Mair
(Miss Annie Martin), at Alwar.
Settlement of Miss Martha B. Croll at Jaipur.
Settlement of Miss Jessie Paterson at Naslrabad.
Transference of Mr. Ashcroft to Ajmer.
Transference of Dr. Huntly to Jodhpur.
Adoption of Bhil Home at Udaipur as part of Foreign
Mission agency.
Opening of Normal School at Beawar in Orphanage
buildings.
July 16. Ordination of Manawar Khan, native pastor, at Tod-
garh.
Settlement of Miss Annie E. Steven at Jaipur.
Settlement of Rev. Matthew Brown at Alwar.
Transference of Mr. M'Quistan to Alwar.
Settlement of Miss Margaret T. Watson at Beawar.
Settlement of Miss Marian MTntosh at Beawar.
Transference of Mr. Mair to Beawar.
Settlement of Rev. John Whitehouse, M.B., C.M., at
Udaipur.
Transference of Mr. Jameson to Udaipur.
Christian Vernacular Education Society merged in
Christian Literature Society, Dr. Murdoch agent
for South India.
Appointment of Rev. And. R. Low, M.A. •
Appointment of Mr. J. Inglis (printer) and Miss Susan
D. Campbell, L.R.C.P. & S.E.
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
Jlnmna
28
- 26 1
\
km
S’. j! \ ^7 \ _V 5
• 1
Thi' Edinburgh. G e ogr nphic nl In.atitn.to
THE STORY OF
OUR MANCHURIA MISSION
JOHN ROSS, D.P,
Missions of the
United Presbyterian Church
THE STORY OF OUR
MANCHURIA MISSION
BY
MRS. DUNCAN M'LAREN
(gMttburglj
OFFICES OF UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1896
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
PREFACE
♦
The writing of the annals of the Manchuria Mission
has been a work of intense interest. The evidences
which the story unfolds of the guiding hand of
Jehovah throughout the history of the Mission are
many and striking, nor is the evidence less clear in
regard to the mighty quickening and regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit in changing hearts and lives.
Feeling deeply my insufficiency to handle such a theme
aright, I can but pray that the Lord of Missions may
so bless these pages as to make them hear a message
from Himself to the Church. May the record of the
blessing which has already been vouchsafed to this
Mission constrain many to give more, and pray more,
for the uplifting of the millions of Manchuria into the
light of life.
While the present record tells only of the work
connected with our own Mission, it will be borne in
mind that the Irish Presbyterian Mission in Manchuria
is closely identified with ours. The two Churches
share in the same great aims, and rejoice together in
the same triumphs.
E. C. M‘L.
Edinbubgh, December 1895.
5
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
X. ENTRANCE ON WORK ..... 9
II. DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCE . . .17
III. AN OPEN DOOR . . . . .23
IV. TWO GREAT CITIES . . . . .31
V. THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD . . .43
VI. DARK DAYS AND SUNNY GLEAMS . . .52
VII. MEDICAL MISSION WORK . . . .59
VIII. WORK AMONG THE WOMEN . . . .69
IX. STRENGTHENING THE STAKES . . .77
X. IN THE FAR NORTH . . . . .85
XI. LENGTHENING THE CORDS . . . .92
XII. TRIED IN THE FURNACE . . • .105
XIII. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERTS . . 113
XIV. WORK IN THE KOREAN VALLEYS . . . 122
XV. A LOOK BACK AND A LOOK FORWARD . . 129
APPENDIX ...... 133
7
THE STORY OF OUR MANCHURIA
MISSION
— ♦ —
CHAPTER I
ENTRANCE ON WORK
HO will doubt that a pro-
phetic vision was granted
to the dying saint, William
Burns, when on the border-
land of Manchuria, which
he had reached only to die,
and when face to face with
the long unbroken darkness
of a land wholly given
to idolatry, he exclaimed,
“God will carry on the
good work ; I have no
fears for that ” ! By faith
he saw the mustering of
the Lord’s servants for the
battle against heathenism,
and His redeemed ones
gathered in from Man-
churia, so lie was content to lay his own armour
9
IlEY. WILLIAM BURNS.
10 JStorg of our paiwljuria Ipssfoit
down, and take possession of the promised land by
his grave.
A missionary of the Presbyterian Church of England,
the Rev. William Burns, after many years of faithful
service in China, was drawn to Manchuria
Burns. by its great needs. He reached Newell wang,
the port of Manchuria, in the autumn of
1867, sailing in a native junk from Tien-tsin. It is
interesting to note that the captain of this junk, though
a heathen, would take no passage-money from Burns, so
impressed was he by his life, and by the knowledge that
he was going to Manchuria, not to trade for his own
gain, but to seek to benefit others. A few short months
of earnest work in Newell wang brought his missionary
career to a close, and he was laid to rest till the resur-
rection morn in the foreign cemetery there.
The workers pass away, hut God looks after the pre-
paration of others, and all the links in the chain of
providence are of His welding. Some years before
Burns landed in Manchuria, the Lord was stirring the
hearts of a few earnest members of the United Presby-
terian Church, and leading them to look with compassion
on the unevangelised millions of the great
Parker'liam Empire of China. Dr. William Parker, a
native of Glasgow, and a missionary in con-
nection with the Evangelical Society of London, had been
at work for five years in Ningpo, a large city on the
coast of China, and one of the five Treaty Ports, in which
alone at that time secluded China permitted the resid-
ence of foreigners. A Scotch auxiliary of this mission
existed in Glasgow, and when the London society was
dissolved, an earnest desire arose among friends of the
cause in Scotland that the good work so successfully
carried on by Dr. Parker should not be allowed to lapse.
(Surtram* on ®ork
11
No doubt a visit home from Dr. Parker at this time
deepened this resolve. He was able to tell of forty
thousand Chinese patients having not only been treated
medically, but having had the gospel preached to them,
while some had been brought to a knowledge of the
truth. A committee was formed, with Mr. John Hen-
derson of Park as chairman, and sufficient funds were
raised to defray the expenses and salaries of two mis-
sionaries for three years. This being done, the Mission
Board were approached, and were asked to undertake the
management of this Mission if the Synod
th^work °f would- authorise them to do so. The Mis-
sion Board thereupon submitted the matter
to the Synod at their meeting in May 1862, stating their
readiness to manage the Mission, though not considering
it wise to pledge themselves to its continuance when the
three years should expire, unless the state of the funds
placed at their disposal should put it in their power
to do so without interfering with the continuation and
extension of the already existing missions of the Church.
The Synod unanimously agreed to sanction this request,
and thus a forward step was taken by our Church
for the extension of the Eedeemer’s kingdom, — a step
which, in the providence of God, was destined to lead to
great results.
It is always interesting to trace the genesis of any im-
portant cause, to note the small beginning out of which
momentous results grow. How much more so when
the issues at stake are for eternity, and when develop-
ment and advance mean the growth of the kingdom of
righteousness. Much interest therefore attaches to the
appointment of Dr. Parker as our first Chinese missionary,
for in it we see our Church waking up in some measure
to her duty in regard to dark China’s spiritual night.
12
^torji of our pautljurhi Utissiou
Dr. Parker sailed for China with his wife in January
1 862. The Tai-ping rebellion had been throwing its dark
shadow over a portion of the Empire; and when Dr. Parker
reached Ningpo in March, he found it was in the hands
of the rebels, and that it was unsafe to resume his work.
During the summer, however, the insurgents were ex-
pelled by the British and French forces ; and as soon as
the distracted state of the country allowed, Dr. Parker
was hard at work again in Ningpo. Strong of faith, he
never seems to have doubted that the raiding and wrath
of the rebels would be overruled by God for the further-
ance of His cause; and it is cheering to know that he was
comforted by seeing the belief of the people shaken in
the idols which had proved powerless to help them in
their time of need. It was also given him to see a
greater willingness on the part of many to listen to the
truth, ere, in the mysterious dealings of God, he was
taken home. In the midday of his strength
Death of i p i ii i i i
Dr Parker anc* usetulness the summons suddenly came.
Returning home from the hospital on horse-
back one afternoon in January 1863, he had occasion to
cross one of the numerous narrow canals which intersect
the city. A stone slab of the bridge gave way, and he
was precipitated into the canal, receiving injuries which
proved fatal a few days afterwards. This was a heavy
blow to the young and still feeble Mission, but Ningpo
was not left long by our Church without a witness to the
truth, for by April 1864 Dr. John Parker was carrying
on the work of his lamented brother.
In 1869 the pressing claims of China were anew
brought before the Church, and earnest appeals were
made that an evangelistic missionary should respond to
the urgent call that was coming from Ningpo. Abund-
ant means were now available for developing the work,
dntrauc mi SStork
13
as the contributions of the founders of the Mission had
been increased by a legacy of £4000 from Mr. Henderson
of Park. In March 1870, Mr. Lewis Nicol, a Scotch
catechist who had been successfully labouring in China
for several years, was appointed as an unordained evan-
gelist for work in Ningpo.
A few months later an arrangement was entered upon
with the National Bible Society, that our Church should
share the services of the Kev. Alexander
Williamson Williamson, who had been engaged for
seven years as an agent of the Bible Society
in China. Mr. Williamson was thus already an
experienced missionary. A man of great energy and
indomitable perseverance, he had not only travelled
widely in connection with the system of extensive Bible
distribution which he conducted, but had spent much
time and strength in purely missionary work in and
around Chefoo. It was in this way that providence led
our Church to take the forward step of commencing
work in Chefoo, an important seaport town situated on
the promontory of the province of Shan-tung.
At this period China was in a very unsettled con-
dition, and, in order to better understand the state of
affairs, we will now take a retrospective glance at the
history which intervenes between the signing of the
Treaty of Nanking, in 1842, and the year 1870. That
treaty, as is well known, made the first breach in the
hitherto impenetrable wall of seclusion
glancePe°ti7e behind- which China had so long entrenched
herself, — but sad and humbling to us, as a
nation, is the cause which led up to this important
event. The foreigner’s opium had for years been
smuggled into China against the express wishes of her
rulers, and an effort by them to stem the evil it was
14
Storg of out pmttljunn pisaiou
working led to the first Opium War with Great Britain,
which began in the summer of 1841, and was concluded
a year later by the Treaty of Nanking. We would fain
draw a veil over the cruel deeds that were committed by
our countrymen against their untrained and ignorant
foe, and leave this dark blot in our nation’s history with
the All-Merciful One, who wondrously, in this instance,
made good to spring from evil.
Peace being for the time restored through the treaty,
missionary societies took advantage of the open doors
set before them, and the godly lives and
Nanking1 earnest labours of many a faithful mission-
ary did much at this time to soften the
deeply-rooted prejudices of the people with whom they
came in contact. But the smuggling of opium went on
unchecked, — much of it, alas ! being brought by vessels
flying the British flag. All efforts to induce China to
legalise the traffic by taxing the drug had proved un-
availing, lasting credit being due to the pagan emperor,
who, in spite of a Christian nation’s appeal, refused to
derive a revenue from the vice and misery of his people !
Again, in 1857, war broke out, and again, six months
later, Britain, with the allied forces of France, Bussia,
and America, was dictating terms of peace to the
Government of China. The Treaty of
Tien-tsin^ Tien-tsin was concluded in June 1858. It
provided that the importation of opium as
an article of commerce should be legalised ; that foreign
ambassadors should take up their residence in Pekin,
and that they should be recei ved by the Court there as
representatives of the Western nations. Clauses were
also introduced in favour of the toleration of Christianity,
and the granting of passports to foreigners for journeys
and residence in the interior of the Empire.
intranet on SSorli
15
All this could not be brought about without the
traditional dislike to foreigners being in many instances
intensified. The mandarins and the literati, proud of
their ancient and complex civilisation, scorned the intro-
duction of Western ideas, and would fain have rebuilt
the wall of their seclusion, and banished everything
foreign from their shores. Finding themselves unable
to do this, they were the main instigators of many evil
reports which began to be circulated against missions
and missionaries, — reports which led to various riots, and,
early in the summer of 1870, brought about the terrible
massacre at Tien-tsin, when no less than
Tien-tain °f twenty Europeans were murdered, including
the Sisters of Mercy connected with the
French Roman Catholic Mission there. Such disquieting
news led the Synod of 1871 to appoint a deputation to
confer with friends of missions in London and with the
Government in regard to the protection of missionaries,
and the proper carrying out of the toleration clause agreed
to by treaty. Just then the Chinese Government, en-
couraged, no doubt, by some unwise speeches which had
been made in the House of Lords by those who were
adverse to missions, put out a feeler in the form of a
despatch, speciously worded, the object of which was to
secure the abolition of the treaty’s toleration clause, and
limit missionary action throughout the Empire by a
variety of restrictions.
It was a question of momentous gravity, the question
really being, — Was the door by which Christianity had at
last found an entrance to one-third of the human race,
after long centuries of exclusion, to be once more closed ?
America’s answer to this question was first heard, and
it was firm and unmistakable. A few anxious weeks
having elapsed, the British Foreign Minister also gave
16
^forg of our Ifliwrijuria pissioit
voice to a clear and distinct negative. Thus here, again,
we trace the working of the Almighty ; for through these
designs, wholly intended for evil, we find the legal
toleration of Christianity established on a firmer basis
than ever before. — “ Unto Thee, 0 God, do we give
thanks.”
A PRIMITIVE BRIDGE.
CHAPTER II
r
DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCE
HE commencement of our mission work in
Chefoo was entered upon with much hopeful-
ness. As a place, it is one of the healthiest
and most attractive spots in China, its winters
being cold and bracing, while the heat of summer is
tempered by cool sea-breezes. Its harbour is fine, and
it is surrounded by mountain peaks, which rise in a
great semicircle behind it.
Friends of the Mission were made glad by Dr. William
A. Henderson offering to go as a medical missionary.
He arrived in April 1871, while Mr. William-
fnChefocf son — after this to be known as Dr. William-
son— returned with his wife, after furlough,
at the end of November. The Rev. John Macintyre,
who had given up his church at Baillieston, in
order to carry the Word of life to the far-off regions
beyond, reached Chefoo the following New Year’s Day,
“a grand New Year’s gift to China,” as Dr. Williamson
expressed it. About this date Mr. Nicol also went to
Chefoo, having been transferred from Ningpo, but
unfortunately his health did not stand the strain of
the work, and very shortly afterwards he had to leave
China.
Much of the bitter opposition which had been experi*
2
18
Utovjr of mu ^auclnmii ^lissioii
enced by Dr. Williamson in the past had now given way
to friendly feeling. Some of the members of one of the
chief literary families, who had done all they could to
dislodge the missionary and drive him from Chefoo,
actually came spontaneously to Dr. Williamson and
offered to sell stones for his new house. Very shortly
after the arrival of the missionaries, steps were taken
for the erection of a church, and also of a hospital and
dispensary, while almost from its initial stage the mis-
sion began to expand towards the interior. With
characteristic energy, Mr. Macintyre set out,
Expansion. .... . .
very early m his missionary career, tor lsi-
nan-foo, the capital of the province, and found an im-
portant sphere awaiting him there, and also at Wei-Hsien,
where Mr. Murray of the Bible Society, who has done
subsequently such a great work among the blind in
China, was at that time stationed.
Mr. Macintyre found travelling in Shan-tung very
difficult. The distance between Chefoo and Tsi-nan-foo
is only about 360 miles, but it took nearly fifteen days
to accomplish the journey : nearly 200 miles were done
on foot, as the cart-tracks were in a deplorable condition.
He found remains of splendid old roads, which had
once been paved with immense blocks of limestone, but
were in such disrepair that even Chinese carters dreaded
being bumped over the worn and broken blocks, and
tried to seek out a new path, often over arable land.
Wei-Hsien is one of the most important market- towns
lying between Chefoo and Pekin, a centre of busy life
and industry. Mr. Macintyre made some
Wei- sien. interesting friends on his first visit, and
received such encouragement that in 1873 it was finally
arranged to take advantage of this open door and begin
systematic mission work there. One of the results of Mr.
Jlt&dopmntt anb §lb trance
19
Macintyre’s visit was to induce a native doctor named
Chin to go and see Dr. Henderson at Chefoo. He stayed
for about a month, and saw a good deal of the Western
treatment of disease. At first he thought the surgical
methods most barbarous, declaring that Chinese nostrums
were greatly superior to a system which necessitated the
A ROUGH ROAD.
loss of a part of the human body. He continued, how-
ever, to watch the medical missionary closely, and ere
long there was no one louder in his praise. This was
only one of many cases where Dr. Henderson’s medical
skill proved most useful in removing prejudice. The
number of his patients grew rapidly, and hearts, yet
untouched by the gospel, had Christianity’s great prin-
20
Sdorjt of out Pautlnum $S!issioit
ciple of love brought before them in a practical form,
which they could understand and appreciate.
The new Mission premises, in which Dr. Henderson
carried on much of his work, were situated at Tung-
Hsin, two miles to the west of Chefoo. Here
also was the little church, which was well
filled every Sabhath morning, and where, not long after
his return, Dr. Williamson had the joy of baptizing five
persons, including “ one fine literary man and the assist-
ant surgeon of the hospital.” Work among the women
was also steadily prosecuted under the superintendence
of Mrs. Williamson. A boarding-school, as well as a day-
school for girls, was begun with gratifying results, while
one or two village schools in the surrounding districts
were established. The education of girls and women is
looked upon in China as being very unnecessary, and it
is usually a matter of peculiar difficulty to get girls to~
attend school ; hence the beginning made in this way
shows the advance which the Mission had made, and the
influence the missionaries had gained over the people.
The city of Ningpo being now well supplied with
missionaries of other Societies, it was agreed, after con-
sideration, and in accordance with Dr.
Parker’s wishes, to wind up our Mission
there, and concentrate the work in North
China, — Chefoo being looked upon as the centre from
which the work would widen out. God, however, was
preparing the way for another forward step, and had
another goal to which to lead our Church.
With the appointment of the Rev. John Ross as a
missionary to China, we enter upon a new
Ross J°hn epoch of our Mission. When Mr. Ross arrived
with his wife at Chefoo, in August 1872,
he found it, comparatively speaking, well supplied with
Leaving
Ningpo.
^tbclopmcnt mrb ^irfmnce
21
missionaries, while across the Gulf of Pei-chih-li a power-
ful call was coming from the great region of Manchuria,
and the guiding hand of Providence was pointing to the
millions there, sitting in darkness without God and
without hope. Quickly responding to the call, Mr.
NEWCHWANG.
Ross made Chefoo little more than a halting-place, and
sailed almost immediately for Hewchwang,
where, as we have already seen, William
Burns closed his devoted career.
Dr. Hunter, a medical missionary sent out by the
Irish Presbyterian Mission, was the only labourer in
this great harvest -field of Manchuria when Mr. Ross
arrived. Surrounded by difficulties, and realising full
well the vastness of the work and the intense tenacity
with which the people clung to their own hoary faiths,
Arrival in
Newchwang.
22
JMotjt of our IWimcInimt fflission
Mr. Ross never doubted the ultimate triumph of the
gospel, uor ever faltered in his belief that the preaching
of the glad tidings would prove to be the power of God
unto salvation ; and it has been given to him, in greater
measure than to most, to see the reward of his faith and
of his earnest labours ; — but we anticipate.
MODE OF TRAVELLING.
CHAPTER III
J3
The three
provinces.
AN OPEN DOOR
EFORE we pass on to consider the opening
up of mission work in Manchuria, it will
be well to glance at some of the character-
istics of that land. The Chinese name for
Manchuria is Kuan-tung, or “ East of the Barrier.” It
is divided into three provinces, Feng-tien or Sheng-ching
in the south, Kirin in the centre, and Hei-
lung-chiang in the north. It contains an
area of 300,000 miles, with a population
supposed to be about 25,000,000. Manchuria lies out-
side of the Great Wall of China, and is therefore not
part of China proper. It has in centuries past proved
to be more than once a disturbing and dominating
influence in Chinese history, while in the year 1643
it conquered China, placed a Manchu Emperor on the
Dragon throne, and founded a dynasty which still rules
over the vast Chinese Empire.
An extensive plain stretches from ISTewchwang in
a north-easterly direction to the river Amur. This
Character- plain having good arable soil, is well culti-
istics of vated by the industrious natives, who raise
Manchuria. a variety of crops, the principal being
millet, maize, wheat, and beans. Paddy rice, the staple
food in many parts of China, cannot be grown in
23
24
^torn of our pmtcjjum ^fission
Manchuria on account of the climate, and is con-
sequently little used. Millet takes its place as the chief
food of the majority of the people, salted beans or
cabbage being often eaten along with it as a relish. The
main road which leads from Newchwang into the
GRAIN STACK.
interior traverses this plain ; close to it the large im-
portant cities are found, while the smaller towns and
villages, which are thickly dotted over the plain, are
reached by tracks little deserving the name of roads.
Away to the west the mountains of Mongolia shut in
this plain, while lower ranges of hills hound it to the
east.
gin ©pen jpoor
25
Though much of Manchuria is flat and uninteresting,
picturesque scenery is also to be found. The Chien-
shan mountains, or “ The Thousand Peaks,”
to the south of Liao-yang, strongly resemble
our Highland hills, while the hills and
valleys in the north have a beauty all their own. The
highest mountain bears the name of the “ Long White
Natural
features.
Mountain,” its height being 8000 feet. The country is
considered to be rich in minerals, including gold, silver,
and copper, but, owing to the superstitious fears of the
people, who dread the configuration of the earth being
disturbed, mining lies under a ban, very little being
allowed. The climate is varied : for four months of
the year an arctic winter holds sway, and during that
time, owing to frozen rivers, there is no communication
with the outer world. The summers are of tropical
heat, while spring and autumn are temperate and
pleasant.
Travelling in Manchuria, as in China proper, is
extremely difficult. The roads are full of ruts and holes,
and after heavy rains are often positively
oHravei68 dangerous. In some districts mud walls are
to be found by the side of the road, and,
when practicable, it is pleasanter to walk or ride on these
than be bumped or knocked about in a springless
Chinese cart, in which, as one traveller says, “your
teeth are nearly shaken out of your head, and your
breath out of your body ! ” The pleasantest highways
of travel are the rivers. The Liao, which flows through
the great plain, is crowded with boats. Most of these
are simply flat-bottomed boats with a hood-shaped
awning in the centre. They are not luxurious, and the
traveller who makes use of them has need of long
patience, as frequently the large ribbed sail is of little
26
Storjr of our |ft;nuburia mtission
use in tlie many bends of the ever-winding river, and
slow tracking or poling has to be resorted to. The
river is muddy, and the banks by its sluggish course
have little beauty, but the busy life and ever-changing
scenes on the river itself are full of interest.
Another reason which commends river -travelling is,
that one avoids having to make use of the very doubtful
comfort provided by the inns. Chinese
Native inns. . , . , . , , . ,
inns are certainly unique. Ticture a dirty
courtyard, crowded with carts, mules, donkeys, pigs,
and innumerable
human beings; a
long low building of
a poor and dejected
aspect, and fre-
q 11 e n 1 1 y bearing
marks that it shares
the antiquity of all
things Chinese, runs
along one side of
the square. A closer
inspection does not
improve matters; the
walls would not be
considered very re-
spectable for a stable
in the home land,
black paper hangs
from them in grimy
shreds, and cobwebs
of long standing
flat-bottomed boat. throw a dusky veil
over roof and all
below it. Heated brick beds, called l,anrjs, run on
(©pen £loor
27
either side of the long narrow room ; on these are
many men, sleeping, eating, or talking. The privacy
to be obtained in the so-called private rooms at
the end is not great, as the partitions frequently
reach only halfway up to the ceiling, while paper
windows afford many a peep-hole for prying eyes. The
air reeks with smoke partly from opium and tobacco
\ .
AN INN.
pipes, and partly from objectionable oil-lamps ; and yet,
in spite of all this, the landlord, or “ Honourable
Humber One,” as he is called, has the audacity to give
his inn a high-sounding title, such as “ The home of
heavenly repose,” or “ The place of eternal peace ! ”
When the present Manchu dynasty was founded, a
large proportion of the able-bodied population migrated
to China as soldiers, and for a time Manchuria was
28
S?torjr of our mivcljuria pjsston
virtually depopulated. After an interval of years,
measures were taken to repeople the country, and for
the last two centuries an annual influx, principally from
North China, has been going on. The Manchus now
form hut a small proportion of the population, and the
Chinese language is universally spoken, though in some
of the remote valleys the Manchus still retain their
language.
Having taken this brief survey of the country, we
will now turn our thoughts to Newchwang, the birth-
place and cradle of our Manchuria Mission.
Newchwang. rp^e Chinese name for the seaport town of
Newchwang is Ying-tzu, or Ying-kou, there being another
town called Newchwang about thirty miles to the
north. Newchwang, the port, is important not only
in itself, hut because it is the door into Manchuria,
the only way by which the millions yet untouched by
the gospel of love could be reached ; for when Mr.
Ross arrived in Manchuria, it was the only place where
foreigners could legally reside, though visits into the
country by means of passports were allowed.
A grievous trial befell Mr. Ross on the very threshold
of his missionary career. In March 1873, after only a few
months’ residence at Newchwang, Mrs. Ross
Mrs* Ross died, and was laid to rest close by the grave
of William Burns. As soon as it could be
arranged, Mr. Ross’s sister set sail for China, in order to
take charge of his motherless babe, and help to brighten
his desolated home. With a great aptitude for the ac-
quisition of languages, Mr. Ross made rapid progress in
Chinese. Before a year had elapsed he was preaching
to the people in their own tongue, in a house which had
been secured, after considerable difficulties, in the heart
of the town, and which had been turned into a little
©.(jilt Cloor
29
chapel. Daily service was held here, with an average
attendance of about thirty.
Before the end of 1873, Mr. Boss had travelled over
the greater part of the southerly province. He found the
people friendly for the most part, and succeeded in open-
ing a new station at a village, a dozen miles from the
port, named Tai-ping-shan. The tremendous claims of
Manchuria, not only on account of the number, but also
because of the intellect and power of the people, were
very early borne in upon Mr. Boss, and he used his pen
forcibly to send the Macedonian cry to the Church at
home, urging that the best and ablest messengers should
be sent to this needy field, as the work was such as
would tax the highest energies and give free scope for
the noblest gifts.
During the year 1874 a marked advance was made;
not a few, scattered up and down the province, were
inquiring the way of salvation, while an-
theChurch other out -station, at Kai-chou, had been
established. Four native evangelists were by
this time at work, and, with a membership of thirteen,
the Manchurian Church may now be said to be founded.
Mr. Boss resolved to prosecute the work, which had
thus hopefully been begun, in a northerly direction, the
Irish Presbyterian Mission having chosen the west in
which to extend their operations. Mr. Boss had already
made two important journeys, one to Pekin and the
other to the Korean “ Gate,” in order to better under-
stand the people and their needs, and the strength and
obstinacy of the obstacles to be overcome. He found
the traditional conservatism of the people, and their
belief in their own past and present greatness, so
strong as to make them care little for the teaching
of a “ barbarous ” stranger ; yet beside all waters and
30
.^torg of our IfluircbunH $$ltssion
in all seasons lie sowed the good seed, strong of faith
that it would one day shake like Lebanon.
In 1875 it was deemed advisable that Mr. Macintyre
should join Mr. Ross in Manchuria. The oversight of
Mr Mac tfK; constantly developing work was becom-
intyre goes to ing impossible for one missionary, and it was
Manchuria. ever becoming clearer, in the doors of entrance
that were being opened, that the Lord was going before
His servants and beckoning them onward. The gospel
torch had been lit in no less than six centres of influence,
extending in a chain, stretching from Newell wang to
Moukden, the capital. It was arranged that, in order
to keep up the continuity of the work, Mr. Ross and
Mr. Macintyre should take turns in making itinerating
tours to these stations, not only to preach but to shepherd
those who had chosen Christ as their portion, teaching
them to observe the all things commanded by Him.
CHAPTER IV
TWO GEEAT CITIES
the
also
city
are
Moukden.
KOUKDEN, the capital of Manchuria, is a
large and handsome city. Its imposing
walls measure about a mile long on each
side, while populous suburbs extend round
for fully a mile beyond the walls ; these
surrounded by outer walls formed of mud.
The population is reckoned to he about
300,000. The streets of Manchu cities are
wide, but are unpaved, and, like the country roads, are
frequently in shocking condition. Those of Moukden
are crowded all day long with eager, busy throngs. The
shops, with their interesting and curious wares, are open
to the street, while long picturesque signboards hang
suspended from the roofs. Some of the most important
looking buildings are the pawn-shops, largely patronised
by the inhabitants ; while Confucian, Buddhist, and
Taoist temples, many of them with pagoda towers, are
seen in all directions.
To this stronghold of idolatry, two evangelists, Wang
were sent during 1876, Mr. Ross and Mr.
Macintyre having already made repeated
visits. Keen opposition prevailed at first,
and both missionaries and evangelists had
to suffer indignities for Clirist:s sake. But joy was
and Tang,
Opposition
and trials.
32
^torjr of our Htnndjuiiu pission
mingled with their grief, for during the year five con-
verts were baptized, while many came Nicodemus-like
seeking after the light. Public profession was attended
at this time with severe trials. “ It would not matter
what I might be called upon to suffer,” one of the
members said one day, “ if only my old friends re-
mained by me.” Then he went on to tell how he
was treated, as if an impassable gulf existed between him
and his relations. By many, conversion was supposed
to be the result of magic, acting through means of a
pill or powder, and making the recipient the slave of
ftfoo (fireat (fitics
33
the foreigner. But the active opponents of Chris-
tianity were already beginning to lay aside their open
hostility, and some enemies even became friends, and
began to examine the nature of the strange new
“ doctrine.”
Accommodation for a preaching chapel had been
secured, and very soon it was found necessary to re-
move the forms, as the people so crowded
chape?1112 each other that it was impossible for any
to sit down. hTo doubt curiosity brought
many, but the Holy Spirit’s power was very manifest
even in those early days. Frequent conversations and
debates took place after the Word had been preached,
and interrogations and denunciations would go on till
the defiant Confucianist would be obliged to desist for
want of breath. Sometimes a deep silence would follow,
and every face would he turned towards Mr. Boss, when
in solemn and emphatic sentences he reasoned of right-
eousness and judgment to come.
As we advance in the history of the Mission, it will
clearly he seen that the ministry of the preaching chapels
has been one of the most fruitful sources of the blessing
which has been vouchsafed, and it is interesting to note
that even in the initial stages it was given a prominent
Prominence place- Educational work, apart from bene-
givento fiting the converts, has not been adopted
preaching. p0];Cy 0f 01ir Manchuria Mission,
though it has been the care of our missionaries from
the first to look after the education of the children
of Christians. But, at the beginning of our Mission,
primary schools were established to which heathen
children were welcomed; and the showers of blessing
did not pass by the little ones, for during 1876, of the
forty children attending the school at Bewchwang, there
3
34 §torji of our IJfmttljunu P’ission
were not any who had not renounced the idolatrous
customs of their fathers.
In 1877 the gaunt spectre of famine was throwing
its shadow over North China. To our missionaries
Famine ^1C Province °f Shan-tung it brought
many trials and increased labours. The
effects of famine were also felt in Southern Manchuria
TEMPLE OF LEARNING, MOUKDEN.
some time before this, and bread for the body, as well as
food for the soul, had to be supplied by the missionaries
to many ; but so great at that time was the distrust
of the foreigner, that Mr. Macintyre found in some
instances that the people preferred to die rather than
receive help at his hand. But in the majority of cases
the kindly aid given proved powerful in removing mis-
®focr ©re at (ffittcs
33
apprehensions, and did much to change the way in
which the dreaded tenets of the foreigner were regarded,
and thus proved to he a key used by God to unlock
hearts.
After some months’ residence in Moukden, during
1877, Mr. Eoss went to hie well wang, leaving Wang in
charge. He found on his return, a month
Persecution. ^ £w0 later, that Wang had been very
badly treated by a band of young men, who went daily
to the preaching chapel to revile him, and made such
an uproar that no respectable people could attend.
Though order was restored when Mr. Eoss appeared,
the daily arguing went on, and little way seemed to be
gained. But one day a man came forward from behind
the crowd, and said, “ I have come here daily for half a
month to search out the fault of this foreigner. I have
come with questions to puzzle him. I have silenced
Mr. Wang there, but the foreigner has beaten me. He
is stronger than I ; yes, he is stronger than all of us.
He is right, and right is stronger than
Confession. Look at him there,” turning to
Mr. Eoss, “any two of us could overcome him, — we
could bind him, and I tell you I would be among the
foremost in taking his life, if I had found he had come
for improper purposes ; but he has not given me the
chance of finding fault with him. He has right on his
side, — right is stronger than I.” Then, turning again to
Mr. Eoss, he said, “You have taught me a great deal.
I have read much during my thirty-nine y ears’ life ; you
are younger than I, but you have shed light on much
that I inquired for in vain. I came in order to show
you ignorant, I have borrowed your light on the most
important subjects ; I have seen too much light — too
much light.” What joy this brought to Mr. Eoss, to
£»torn of our Hfmubumt Mis si on
3fi
find that among hearers who had seemed so hopeless
one at least had been touched.
During the year 1878 the membership in Moukden
more than doubled itself. Among the twenty-six new
members was an old man of seventy, a
members^ retired master-joiner with little learning,
but whose grasp of the truth may be
gauged from his fearless avowal : “ Though they drag
me with cart ropes, they shall not pull me away from
my Saviour Jesus.” Writing of this little band of con-
verts, Mr. Ross was able to report that there was not a
man among them ashamed of Jesus, not one who was
not ready to give a reason for the hope that inspired
him, even when it brought down revilings on his head.
What wonder that the Church grew when such as
these composed its membership ! The preaching chapel,
which up to this time was a rickety old house in a side
street, was removed to better premises in one of the
busiest streets, and this gave a great impetus to the
work. Daily preaching went on from 3 to 8 ij.m.,
after which the members assembled for worship. With
so much to encourage, our missionaries had to pass
through dark as well as bright experiences. Many who
seemed eager to enter the Kingdom fell away during
times of probation, while one or two who had been
baptized, proved by after conduct that they had only a
name to live.
Mr. Ross arrived home on furlough in 1879, leaving
the work in Moukden under Wang’s care. Mr. Macintyre
Wang in
charge.
having charge of the ever-increasing work in
the southern district, Mr. Ross asked him to
spare himself the supervision of the distant
Moukden station, more particularly as he had full con-
fidence in Wang, and desired to test his powers. The
$foo ^rcat (Kxtirs
37
year’s report of sixteen baptisms showed that this confid-
ence was not misplaced ; and it is cheering to note that
Wang had been greatly helped by the volunteer labours
of two or three of the members, who zealously preached
during their leisure hours. About this time two mission-
aries of the China Inland Mission visited Moukden.
One of these, Mr. Pigott, gave the following testimony
regarding the good work done there. After speaking of
worship with the Christians, he says : “ How pleasant,
after many days amongst the heathen, to find those who
love and serve our Master, - — the precious fruit of a
brother’s toil. It is a sight full of bright hope and
cheer to us in our labours.”
Shortly after this visit, Mr. Macintyre went to Mouk-
den to see how things were progressing. He found eight
converts waiting for baptism, two of whom were women
who had been brought to Christ by their husbands. He
was much encouraged by the manner in which the little
flock had stood firm, left alone as they had been, and
felt that a future bright with promise was dawning for
Moukden, and that it was pre-eminently the place to
establish a strong mission which would tell over the
length and the breadth of the province. When it is
remembered that in many places in conservative China
it has taken years to make any impression, it is the
more remarkable that the gospel plough should have
made such an impression so quickly on the
Progress. . A ± °
virgin soil of heathenism in Moukden, the
intellectual as well as the governmental centre of Man-
churia. The wind of the Spirit bloweth where it
listetli, and to God be all the glory ; but the warm
thanks of the home Church are due to our pioneer
missionaries for the wise and far-seeing lines on which
the work was founded and carried on.
38
Stovj) of our Hfrouburia ^ffission
The clamant needs of our Chinese Mission having
again been laid on the heart of the Church, through
Mr. Ross’s voice and his colleague’s pen, it was decided
to send four additional missionaries. Ere long, in answer
to the prayers of God’s people, these missionaries were
forthcoming : the Rev. Alexander W estwater
of staff 6 and -D1’- A. M. Westwater being appointed
for the Chefoo district, and the Rev. James
Webster and Dr. Christie for Manchuria. Before these
missionaries and their wives sailed for China, Mr. Ross,
who had married again, returned to Manchuria with
his wife. Miss Pritty, who went out under the auspices
of the newly -formed Zenana Mission of our Church,
followed them in the autumn of the same year.
When Mr. Ross reached Moukden, he found that the
influence of the gospel was being rapidly extended by
the converts. He was grieved, however, to find that
antipathy to the foreigner was by no means dead, and
that active hatred was still shown to the members.
Three printers had been dismissed from their employ-
ment because of their Christianity, four shoemakers
had been treated in like manner, while
Steadfastness
of converts.
others had had to undergo other forms of
suffering for conscience’ sake ; but few ap-
peared to have wavered, or had any hesitation as to
their duty. As soon as it was practicable, Mr. and
Mrs. Ross left Newchwang for permanent residence in
Moukden, Miss Pritty accompanying them. From the
first it was clearly made evident that, though the work
among women might be hard and uphill, and hedged in
with many difficulties, there was a wide sphere open in
this direction. Only a few days after arrival, about a
dozen Chinese ladies called to bid Mrs. Ross and Miss
Pritty welcome to Moukden, and they were warmly
Stfoor CSrcat (fitus
39
invited to visit each of the families represented by their
visitors.
There being now three evangelists in Monkden,
another city chapel was opened in a main thoroughfare,
where, as in the chapel in the west suburb, daily preach-
ing went on with blessed results. A little chapel behind
the public one was fitted up, and there public worship
was conducted on Sabbaths with the members. The
converts from the commencement had been encouraged
to manage their own affairs, and not lean on the foreign
missionary ; and the stage having now arrived for the
appointment of deacons, three were chosen
appointed f°r the office by ballot. The members’
choice fell on the three evangelists, Liu,
Chun, and Hsii. The scene in setting apart these
deacons must have been impressive. Liu’s heart was so
full that he could only express himself in prayer ; while
Hsii in a few earnest words thanked the members for
their confidence in him, and asked for their prayers to
help him in his work.
Some time before this, Mr. Macintyre had married
Miss Catherine Ross, and he and his wife paid periodical
visits to the various southern stations. Hew and end-
less opportunities for extending the work were opening
before Mr. Macintyre, and he longed to follow the Hand
which was beckoning him forward. Work had been
begun in the city of Hai- cheng; and,
though it was not found to be a hopeful
sphere in itself, the many villages of which it forms
a centre offered many attractions and demanded new
efforts.
Hai-cheng.
Shortly after Mr. Ross’s return it was decided to open
a new station in Liao-yang, an important city forty miles
40 ^torji of our Pmvtljuriit Utisshm
south-west of Moukden, which had been the capital of
Manchuria up to the middle of the seventeenth century.
Liao an Standing as it does in the midst of a richly
productive plain, Liao-yang is a busy centre
of influence for a wide area ; its population numbers
about 80,000. Wang was sent from Moukden to begin
PAGODA IN LIAO-YANG.
work in this city, and hard was the battle he was
called on to wage. Every indignity was offered to
him, and all sorts of measures were adopted to drive
him away, but Wang was ever ready to do or dare for
Jesus’ sake. “ Think you,” he would say to his revilers,
“ I would consent, for the paltry sum I receive from the
®foo (llrcat Cities
41
foreigner, to stand here day after day to be vilified and
taunted by you as a traitor to my country, a demon’s
slave, and such other names as your anger invents. I
am no follower of the foreigner ; I follow the doctrine
which the foreigner has brought. The foreigner has
given me the truth of heaven, and that truth I must
follow. Let the foreigner depart ; we have the Bible,
so we know the truth, and we will teach and repeat it
if there he no foreigners in the land.”
Wang had been sent to rent a chapel, but every
attempt ended in disappointment. God, however, had
been preparing the way for His messenger, when, months
before, Wang told the story of salvation in a wayside inn
to one who was well known in Liao-yang.
workS begms This man had received Christ, and, being
deeply interested, he helped Wang to secure
a house in the main street, where he could preach. The
disturbance he was subjected to, however, became so
trying, that at last an appeal had to he made to the
magistrate. The hearts of rulers are in the King’s
hands, and immediately a favourable proclamation was
issued. This greatly improved matters for Wang, and
within a year he had the joy of several inquirers coming
to him secretly, two of whom were afterwards baptized.
How refreshing it must have been for the weary worker
to revisit Moukden at this time, and sit down at the
Lord’s Table with the fifty members there, not a few of
whom he had been the means of leading from darkness
into light. “ Not by might, nor by power, but by My
Spirit, saitli the Lord of hosts.”
Persecution continued in Liao-yang for several years ;
but it may be well to record here that,
six years after the commencement of work,
the baptismal roll numbered fifty names. A good
42 Stoxjr of our Panxljuriu pissiou
many of these belonged to the merchant class, for whom
it is very hard to profess Christ and at the same time
carry on business in a heathen city. It could be said
of this early band of converts that not one had ever
been, or ever looked to be, in the pay of the Mission.
CHAPTER Y
TUE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD
rHE year 1884 saw a marked development in
the Mission. Not only was that powerful
handmaid of the gospel, a Medical Mission,
established in Moukden, but the good seed
of the Word was carried into what proved to be
fruitful soil in the districts beyond ; and centres of
light, scattered over a wide area, were thus formed.
Much of this was done by the natives themselves.
Moukden being a great business centre, country people
are constantly coming and going. Many of these found
their way into the preaching chapels ; some were
interested and went again and again, till
peTspreatr they had grasped something of -the beauty
and joy of the truth. Then they bore
the tidings hack with them to their distant homes, for
one of the most hopeful features of the Mission has ever
been that the majority of those who receive the truth
are eager to impart it to others. Beautiful indeed
have been the feet of these Manchurian converts in
the far-off valleys of their native land, who have done
so much to prepare the way of the gospel chariot, and
who have so abundantly proved that the gospel is still
the power of God unto salvation !
After taking a journey to the various stations to see
43
44
Utoni of our Hlanxfjuria ptssioii
the country and better understand its people and needs,
Mr. Webster took up work at Newell wang, while Mr.
Macintyre, after ten years’ residence in China, came
home fbr a well-earned furlough. On his return, he
and Mr. Webster spent a considerable time
in itinerating work among the valleys to
the east. This was felt to be a region instinct with
hope. The higher pressure incident to the lives of those
who lived in and near the mercantile centres was un-
known in the quiet village life of these valleys, and
once superstition was overcome, a congenial soil was
found for the spread of the truth. A long line of
interesting stations was thus established in the southern
district, ending in Chin-tsai-kou, 300 miles from New-
ell wang, where at this time there was an infant church
of three believers.
The blessing of God having been so abundantly
poured out on the Manchuria Mission, and it being
clearly seen that with wider opportunities came heavier
responsibilities to extend the work, the Mission Board
had been for some time considering the advisability of
concentrating the whole work of the China Mission in
Manchuria. In 1885, having gained the consent of
the Synod and the concurrence of the missionaries, it
was decided to take this step. With other Missionary
Societies at work, Shan-tung had many more missionaries
in proportion to its population than Manchuria, and the
greater needs, as well as the hopeful aspects of this vast
field, were the chief grounds on which the
Concentration. ... . , . , . .
decision was based. Accordingly, during
the following year, the Rev. Alexander W estwater and
Dr. West water were transferred to Manchuria. Dr.
Williamson, though still retaining his connection with
our Church, took up his residence in Shanghai, in order
©lie <j5ospc( % |1o(ncr of (Sob
45
that he might carry on the production and circulation of
a Christian literature for China, a work which lay very
near his heart, and for which he was eminently
qualified. He carried on his work at a busy spot
close by the native shipping, where strangers congre-
gate, and had thus opportunity of circulating Christian
books far and wide. One of the best known Of the
Chinese books which he wrote is The Life of Jesus ;
while another, the Chinese Girls’ Classic, written by
Mrs. Williamson, has proved a valuable test-book in
mission schools for girls.
Mrs. Williamson, who was closely identified with
her husband’s work, and who had done a great deal for
the welfare of the women around Chefoo, died in the
autumn of 1886. In 1890 a Missionary Conference
was held at Shanghai, in which Dr. Williamson took a
deep interest. After its close, with a heart full of thanks-
giving for the great things God had wrought for China,
which had been so abundantly shown by this Conference,
he went to Chefoo for rest and change, and
Williamson! there lie fell on sleep, and was laid to rest
on the quiet hillside above the town, where
for long his commanding figure and great warm heart
will be remembered by many for whose sake and the
gospel’s he spent his strength.
During this period the progress made in Manchuria
was such as to amply justify the wisdom of the policy
of concentration. We are most anxious that the picture
presented of the Mission should in no respects be over-
drawn, but we search in vain at this time for signs to
present except those denoting advance. Shadows there
must have been athwart the horizon of hope, but
these serve only to bring into stronger relief the
brightness of the outlook. Hot only were there being
4G
S'torjr of our |!fnnxburi;t Ifttssiou
added to the Church daily such as should he saved, but
the members were growing in the Christian life, and
realising more their responsibilities and privileges in
This was shown
among other ways by their liberality: one
the things concerning the Kingdom.
Liberality
of converts.
of the members at Newcliwang supported
an evangelist for a year entirely at his own
expense ; while another in the interior supported a
school, besides being one of a band of twenty who
undertook to support an evangelist.
The story of Chang of Newell wang shows the grit of
these Chinese converts. At his own expense he went
to Liao-yang to help the evangelists there, and Mr.
Webster hoped on his return that he might give himself
entirely to the work of an evangelist, hut he resolutely
refused to become one of the staff of paid
Nowchwang. evangelists, the reasons he gave being as
follows: “When I go down to preach in
the native town, I sometimes hear such remarks as
these — ‘ How much does he get from the foreigner 1 ’
And I see they listen with respect when I tell them that
I preach this doctrine because I believe it, and the
foreigner does not give me a penny. I see in my
book that Paul preached, working with his own
hands, and if the pastor has no objection, I wish to
do likewise.”
Of the 104 members baptized in Moukden and
Liao-yang during 1885, all, with the exception of two
women, had been led to Christ through native agency.
Thus it was little wonder that the extended employment
of natives was a matter that lay very near Mr. Ross’s
heart, and a Theological Class was begun in Moukden
which was open to others besides preachers. A severe
loss befell the Mission during the year in the death
dcsptl the |lof»cr of dpob
47
of two preachers, Wang and Hsii, the oldest and the
youngest of the evangelists. Wang, better
Death of _ jcnown as Old Wang, was, as we have seen,
the fearless pioneer of Christian work at
Moukden and Liao-yang. The character and work of
these two men is best described in Mr. Ross’s own
words : “ To the keen vision and calm, dauntless
courage of Hsii I looked for the instrument which, by
careful and kindly guidance, would build up and con-
solidate into a shapely edifice, the numerous living stones
made alive by the instrumentality of the intensely
earnest, zealous, warm-hearted, and fiery Wang. He
whose is the work has judged otherwise, and has
removed my ablest lieutenants from my side. More
than the lack of any human aid do I feel the want
which these blanks have made. Resignation to His
will who gave and blessed them must be mine over their
newly-closed graves, and thankfulness for the rich fruits
left behind them. One grand assurance gleams out of
the darkness. The light of life so successfully set on
high by them is rapidly spreading, and before many
years are over, few men in Manchuria will remain wholly
ignorant of the message of salvation. They are at rest
from their labours, but their works will abundantly
follow them.”
Mr. Webster having now joined Mr. Ross in Mouk-
den, it was decided to begin work in Tieh-ling, a walled
city forty miles north of Moukden. Tieh-ling
! is built about a mile from the eastern bank
of the river Liao, and is skirted on the west by a wide
stretch of hilly country which reaches to the river Ya-lu,
300 miles distant. Its population is large, and from its
position it is a growing centre of prosperity, owing not
only to its easy access to river communication, but on
48 ^torrr of one Mmtdptriu fission
account of it being on the great highway stretching
from the south to Kirin and the regions beyond.
Chiao, a converted opium smoker, who had been led
to the Great Deliverer by Old Wang, was chosen to
Chiao preach the gospel in Tieh-ling. When he
heard the decision, he exclaimed, “ What
grace, what grace ! ” so much did he feel the honour God
was giving him in thus calling him to His service.
Satan ever fights hard for his own, and the same hard-
ships and bitter opposition that were passed through in
Moukden and Liao-yang had to be endured in Tiehding.
Premises for a chapel were hired, and patiently old Chiao
proclaimed the love of Jesus to dense crowds of scoffers.
At last disturbance and obloquy culminated in the
wrecking of the chapel. Everything that could be
broken up was destroyed, and Testaments and hymn-
books were burned ; and, after being roughly handled,
Chiao had to withdraw from the city for a time.
Returning from a journey in the surrounding districts,
Mr. Ross and Mr. Webster reached Tieh-ling to find this
sad state of affairs. They were obliged to
Tieh-]ingm leave hurriedly, being followed to the city
gate by anangry crowd. After some days they
again went to Tieh-ling, taking up their quarters in an inn
outside of the city. Chiao had by this time returned, and
his joy at seeing friends was great. Passports and cards
were sent to the Yamen, with a courteous request that
the mandarin would grant the missionaries a private
interview, but a message was sent back that he was
busy, which meant that he would have nothing to do
with them. However, feeling that a battle must be
fought and won, and that the sooner it was over the
better, both Mr. Ross and Mr. Webster went boldly to
the chapel. The crowd was so great that the room
®djr ^0SpiI tljc ^oluer of (®oir
49
could not be used, so the door was barred, and first Mr.
Webster, and afterwards Mr. Koss, preached from the
window sill. They succeeded in arresting the attention
of their audience, and the crowd listened with patience.
In the evening they again preached to a larger and
more noisy crowd.
The following morning found the missionaries again
Opposition
subsides.
at the window. A greeting of derisive laughter was not
encouraging, but some in the crowd listened to their
message with evident interest. After closing, they rode
quietly away, and were immediately assailed by having
mud and stones hurled at them. Fortunately, they soon
had a fair field before them, and rode rapidly away, thus
escaping uninjured. They learned, on reaching the inn
beyond the city walls, that placards had been dis-
seminated, describing the Jesus’ religion in blas-
phemous and shameful terms, and calling upon the
people to drive the foreign religion from their midst.
The literati were found to be the instigators,
and when they were given to understand
that they had gone too far, the opposition
gradually subsided. On their next visit the missionaries
were respectfully treated, and the little chapel was filled
with orderly hearers. Old Chiao rejoiced with a great
joy, and his favourite expression, “ Oh, the grace of the
Lord!” was uttered in jubilant tones. Yery hard did
he work for the salvation of those around him, and not
many months had passed before Mr. Webster had the
joy of baptizing eight men. Writing of the ingathering
of these first-fruits, Mr. Webster says: “The busy
world outside went on its way, knowing
baptisms n°t anc^ heeding not what was going
on within. Yet the greatest thing in all
the city’s history had happened that day,- — a thing
4
50 §torj] of our Iftmuljuria ptssion
that would be remembered when everything else was
forgotten, — for the first stones in the temple of the
living God bad been laid that day in Tieh-ling.”
During 1887 the two Moukden elders visited all the
stations to the north, bearing with them the greetings
OFFICE-BEAIIERS OF TIEI-I-LING CHURCH.
of the Moukden Church. Their visit did much to
revive the lukewarm and strengthen the weak of the
flock. The Tieh-ling members spontaneously instituted a
weekly offering, which greatly cheered the missionaries,
pointing as it did to the members’ growth in grace, and
heralding a time when the native Church will be able to
stand alone. A course had been adopted of inviting the
leading members in the out-stations to visit Moukden.
51
®Ij£ (ifospd ilj£ IJobtr of (Sob
During 1887 ten of the Tieli-ling members took advan-
tage of this opportunity. Their visit gave these men a
fresh impulse, and new ideas of the Church of Christ
and of their duties regarding it. They were present at
the celebration of the Lord’s Supper in Moukden, and,
soon after they went home, earnestly requested that they
should have the Communion in Tieh-ling.
Communion Mr. Webster went, and he looks back upon
that first Communion service in Tieh-ling as a
memorable period. A time of prayer and heart-searching
had preceded the service, and it was a little company,
eagerly expectant of the Divine blessing, who broke
bread in remembrance of their Lord, and sang together
for the first time in Tieh-ling the old Communion Hymn.
CHAPTER VI
DARK DAYS AND SUNNY GLEAMS
HE autumns of 1886
and 1888 brought dire
calamity in their train
to many in Manchuria.
Owing to an unusual
autumnal rainfall in
1886, the river Liao
overflowed its low banks,
and, flooding the plain,
swept the harvest fields
bare. AVhole villages
were inundated by the
torrent, and many of
the inhabitants were
drowned, while hundreds
were rendered homeless.
Thus, instead of the joy
of harvest, there was
devastation and death, while the suffering involved
was rendered all the more disastrous
owing to the near approach of winter. Mr.
Disastrous
floods.
Westwater hastened to the flooded districts
to distribute relief, and found the misery heartrending.
’flarfc Jags mrir Smrnjr C learns
53
Some of the homeless people had dug holes in the
ground, which they had roofed over with millet stalks.
Mr. Westwater, in order to enter these dens, had to crawl
on his hands and knees. Frequently he found in them
people dying of fever and starvation ; many had absolutely
no food ; and dead and dying were huddled together.
There is no doubt that in his Christlike ministry of
love to these stricken ones, Mr. W estwater laid down his
own life. On his return to Moukden, fever seized him,
and his strength rapidly failed. In death as in life his
longing desire was that the Chinese might share his own
peace and joy. He frequently prayed in Chinese that
God would save and bless Wan lcuo , Wan-ren (literally,
“the myriad kingdoms and myriad peoples”). Thus
passed away one who had little more than
^Westwater enterecl on his missionary career, leaving a
sad blank, but also many precious memories
behind. His young widow decided to remain in China
and devote herself to work among the women. Her
offer of service was accepted, and shortly after she began
work at Hai-cheng, sustained by the sympathy and
prayers of many both in China and in the home-land.
The floods of 1888 were much more serious than those
of 1886, and affected a larger area. In the early part of
the year a long-continued drought did much damage to
vegetation ; then came such heavy rain that rivers and
streams became swollen torrents, sweeping over the
plains and submerging large districts of land.
Terrible havoc. L, ° ° °
iernble havoc was wrought in Moukden,
more especially in the east suburb, where the Mission
houses are situated. The news of the disaster which
first reached home was as follows : “ Hundreds are
drowned in the immediate neighbourhood of our terrace,
and hundreds more are killed by the falling of houses.
54
Utorg of our Pnntburin mission
Thousands more are rendered homeless under our very
eyes, and tens of thousands have lost everything they
possessed.”
It was indeed a time of darkness and trouble, and our
missionaries had for many a day to go forth as the de-
liverers of the people in their sore need. Appeals were
made for funds, and a well-arranged and systematic plan
of relief was organised. Very awful were
rendered the sccnes which had to be witnessed,
and the risks which were run by our mis-
sionaries during these dark days, but through it all they
were mercifully protected and upheld. Mr. Webster
calculated that a sum of six shillings would keep a
family alive for a month ; and when it is stated that
the relief money received from all sources, and dis-
tributed by our missionaries, amounted to about £8500,
it will be at once seen what incalculable benefit was
rendered, and how much the practical sympathy shown
must have cemented good feeling and prepared the way
for the Christian’s doctrine and teaching. It is not the
first time that, in destroying the fruits of the earth, God
has brought about the ripening of another harvest for
eternity.
But these cloudy days were not without their gleams
of sunshine. While Mr. Macintyre records that the
characteristic of 1886 in his district in the south had
been opposition, caused partly by a Taoist priest and
partly by hostile Roman Catholics, he can still report
progress in the number of members and advance in their
Christian life. In the northern centre, another link had
been added to the chain of stations by the opening up
of work in Kai-yuen, a city on the main
Kai-yuen. ,
road, over twenty miles north of lieh-lmg.
In the early days of the Mission, a soldier named Kuan
£)arli Dap an!) Sumnn dlcams
55
Seekers after
light.
was led to frequent the preaching chapel in Newehwang.
Years after he was baptized in Moukden, and since then
had lived in Kai-yuen, where he had bravely witnessed
for Christ and been zealous in sowing the seed of the
Kingdom. Thus again we see the Spirit of the Lord
leading through circumstances to an open door.
Another feature which made Kai-yuen a hopeful centre,
was the fact of it being a stronghold of the Hwen Yuen,
an earnest sect of Buddhists, from whose ranks about
three-fourths of the converts gathered in had been drawn.
The members of this sect are vegetarians, and, while very
assiduous in their worship of Buddha, are in
a measure seekers after light, as may be
judged by the success Christianity has had
among them. The origin of this sect dates back to the
Ming dynasty, about 500 years ago, and was probably
a revolt from the grosser forms of heathenism, to which,
as time passed by, it has reverted.
Very shortly after the establishment of work in
Kai-yuen, the good influence spread. In a village not
far distant the whole family of the head-man were
baptized. This man heard the gospel in the Ivai-yuen
chapel, and went back to his village home to demolish
all his idols and shrines. When he and his household
received the sacred rite of baptism, the font used was a
censer which had been bought for burning incense to
Buddha ; but before it was thus employed, the Dayspring
from on high entered the home, and it was put to a very
different use !
Not less interesting is the story of the beginning of
work in Tai-ping-kou, a village to the north of Kai-yuen.
During 1886 a blind man named Chang
found his way to Moukden, in the hope
that the foreign doctor, whose fame by this time had
Tai-pingkou.
56
Sdorn of ouv |f mttljuria pissioir
spread far and wide, might he able to restore his sight.
Under Dr. Christie’s care his eyesight improved slightly,
but, though nothing could be done to cure it completely,
the eyes of his understanding were opened, so that the
long journey had been made by no means in vain. The
very first time he heard the story of salvation he received
it as a message of good news, and before he left, he very
strongly desired to he numbered among Christ’s disciples
through the rite of baptism. He was greatly disappointed
that the missionaries considered it wiser that he should
return to his home first, promising, however, to visit
him as soon as practicable.
A few months later, Mr. Webster made a journey to
the north, and very remarkable were the experiences
which awaited him. He found that Chang, groping his
way home with almost sightless eyes, had, in the inns and
by the wayside, made known his new-found faith, and re-
lated the wondrous vision, as he called it, of a Saviour from
sin. When at last he reached Tai-ping-kou, he began at
once to tell the people of Jesus. Then he went on to
other villages, preaching under the shade of the willow
trees the story of redeeming love. Many thought him
crazed and pitied him, others jeered him ; but by and
by, as they watched Chang, they saw that he was
indeed a changed man, — old things had passed away, all
things had become new. Then came a divi-
what a Mind - o£ 0pjnj0]1 — some sided with him and
some against him, the consequence being
that the whole countryside was in an uproar. But
through it all Chang went quietly on his way, praying
and preaching and singing the one hymn he knew.
What a sublime picture we have here of the power of
the gospel, and of God using the weak things to con-
found the mighty ! Only a poor weak blind man, hut
£)ark £)ags anb Strong steams
57
when filled with the Spirit, strong to bring about a
religious awakening in a wholly heathen district; for
that was what Chang had done. Several were already
earnest believers, while numbers were inquiring about
the Jesus’ doctrine.
Chang’s joy was great when he met Mr. Webster.
Though his face was radiant, his voice quivered with
emotion as he said, “ 0 pastor ! you promised, and I
always said you would come.” Two days afterwards,
when the candidates had been examined, Mr. Webster,
in a crowded room, baptized nine men, headed by their
blind guide. Of these, Mr. Webster wrote: “What
pleased me most was, not the amount of their knowledge,
as tlieir way of knowing. Without art, with an utter
absence of technicalities, each in his own way declared
his faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, His
only Son, our Lord.” Many more have been baptized
since then, for this was but the beginning of a movement
which had, as we have seen, God’s signal blessing resting
on it from the first. Chang, having become quite blind,
was sent to Pekin to be under Mr. Murray’s
to1readtaUSht care- Taught by Mr. Murray’s system for
the blind, he returned home able to read
fluently, and continues to be an increasing power for
good among his fellow-countrymen.
In the spring of 1888 the Mission staff was augmented
by the arrival of the Itcv. James A. Wylie. From the
first, Mr. Wylie’s missionary career was
marked by faithful, earnest labour. After
he had been for a time in Hewchwang and
Moukden, he took up residence in Liao-yang. Absorb-
ing though his work was in that busy centre, he yet
found time to make extensive itinerating tours, and
gathered not a little valuable information regarding the
58
Utorjt of our pmrcbunu HHssioii
geography and the conditions of life in distant districts
of the country.
The Rev. George Douglas and the Rev. Daniel T. Robert-
son arrived in Manchuria towards the close of 1 890. In
November of the following year Mr. Douglas
appointment. went to Liao-yang, while Mr. Robertson, as
will be seen later, became one of our pioneers
in the north. In April 1891 the Rev. James W. Inglis
and his sister, Miss Eliza Inglis, reached Manchuria, and
were appointed to Moukden.
CHAPTER VII
MEDICAL MISSION WORK
EDICAL Mission work has not only
proved rich in spiritual results in Man-
f\ churia, but it has been most valuable
in removing prejudices, and gaining the
friendship of the upper classes and Government officials.
Mandarins who would not enter a preaching chapel are
often glad to avail themselves of the skill of
prejudices ^he medical missionary, and thus they have
an opportunity of hearing the truth. Dr.
Christie opened a dispensary in Moukden in 1883,
and was very quickly drawn into most engrossing work.
Not only did the patients hear the Word of life, but a
short statement of the truth, in leaflet form, was given
to each to carry home as silent messengers, while they
were encouraged to buy portions of Scripture and other
Christian books and tracts. It was not long before Dr.
Christie’s heart was cheered by seeing the first-fruits of
his labours, in five men being received into the Church
by baptism. One of these was a literary man, whose
scholarship, combined with his earnestness, made him a
power for good among his fellow-countrymen.
The Children’s New Year Offering for 1886 was
devoted to the erection of a new hospital in Moukden,
which was opened at the close of the following year.
60
§fon> of our IfTmttburin Httssiou
Moukden
hospital.
Dr. Christie had succeeded in acquiring a good site
close to the Mission houses, on the out
skirts of the east suburb. The hospital is
built at the end of what is called the
Terrace ; in front is a river, with a plain beyond, while
to the back rise the eastern hills. Very wisely, all the
houses connected with the Mission are built externally
MOUKDEN HOSPITAL.
on the plan of Chinese architecture : all are of one
storey, and everything has been done to avoid exciting
prejudice in the minds of the natives. The hospital is
also quite Chinese outwardly, but the accommodation
and internal arrangements are admirably suited for in-
door and outdoor medical work.
The opening ceremony was performed by
the President of the Board of War, a high
Chinese official, while a number of leading
mandarins were present. In the afternoon a large
Opening
ceremony.
Ittbital ptssion 8Hork
61
and enthusiastic meeting of the church members
was held in the waiting-room of the hospital, and
earnest hopes were expressed that, with the in-
auguration of the new building, an impetus would be
given to medical mission work throughout the province.
These hopes have been largely fulfilled ; for, with con-
fidence more firmly established, and a greater willing-
ness to enter the hospital and submit to surgical
treatment, each succeeding year has seen the work
increase.
Successful operations leading to recovery in cases
which seemed hopeless, often appear miraculous in
Chinese eyes. One man was brought to Dr. Christie
whose coffin was already prepared, and arrangements
made for his funeral. He was successfully treated, and
made a good recovery : it is little wonder that such as
he should sound the doctor’s praises, and induce others
to benefit from his skill. As it has been seen already
in blind Chang’s case, patients carried with
them to their homes the message of salva-
tion, and became liglit-bearers to many a
Hone left the hospital
without learning something of the true God and salvation
through Christ ; while the regular instruction imparted,
and the daily contact with Christians, frequently pro-
duced a lasting impression. Dr. Christie, after a time,
found it advisable to open a class for inquirers, a number
of whom soon applied for baptism.
In this connection we may well note the blessing
that has followed the earnest labours of Chang Lin, the
hospital evangelist, who, by his testimony
evangelist. an(l eff°rts> tad been the means of turning
not a few from idols to serve the living God.
Though not much of a scholar, his knowledge of the
Effect of
medical work.
remote village and hamlet.
62
Sdorg of our Hlatttljimii HUsstoit
Bible enabled him to give clear expositions of the gospel,
and made him successful in personal dealing with the
patients. Many a weary sufferer has been comforted
and pointed to the Great Soul-healer by Chang.
From an early period in the Mission, Medical Classes
were instituted in Moukden for the training of assistants,
a work which was further developed when better accom-
modation was provided. While discouragements have
not been wanting, Dr. Christie has also had
Classes1 much to cheer him in this branch of work.
Some, who did well for a time, fell away,
but others have remained steadfast, and have received
a good knowledge of medicine and surgery, and have
been thus a great help to Dr. Christie in his arduous
labours.
After Dr. Christie’s return from furlough in 1891, six
Christian young men were enrolled as students under a
live years’ course of study. These students dispense
medicine to the out-patients, and each takes charge of a
ward, relieving the doctor of a good deal of the dressing,
bandaging, etc. Many tablets adorn the hospital walls,
presents from the patients, who in this Chinese fashion
display their gratitude for benefit received. Subscrip-
tions in money are also sometimes given ; and it is
encouraging that these are on the increase, even the
very poor giving a few hundred cash, amounting to one
or two pence.
In 1889 the medical staff was increased by the
appointment of Dr. Thomas M. Young, who, on arrival
with his wife in Manchuria, took up residence in
Death of Mrs M°ukden, and superintended the medical
Young and work there during Dr. Christie’s absence.
Mrs. Christie.
ment befell Dr. Young in the death of his wife, who
In the autumn of 1890 a grievous bereave-
Ulebical Uti*5*011 ®ork
G3
had. endeared herself to all by the sweetness of her
Christian character and the beauty of her consecrated
life. A like sorrow also befell Dr. Christie while in
Scotland, his wife dying in 1891.
The Synod of 1891 having agreed that medical mis-
sionaries should be ordained or designated to missionary
service, and be thus able to dispense ordinances in the
foreign field, the first service of this kind took place in
Rosehall Church, Edinburgh, when Dr. Christie, about
to set sail again for Manchuria, was in this way set
apart for missionary service.
During the winter of 1887, Dr. Westwater paid two
visits to Liao-yang, and treated so many sick people in
the mission chapel there, as to prove conclusively the
impossibility of trying to meet the requirements of a
large city through means of a medicine chest and an
occasional visit. An attempt was made to rent a house
as a temporary dispensary, but without success, the
people being still hostile to the settlement of any mis-
sionary in their midst. It was therefore agreed that
.. , ... Dr. Westwater should take up his residence
Medical Mis- . r
sion in in Hai-cheng ■ and his settling there, with
Hai-cheng. establishment of a hospital and dis-
pensary, was accomplished without any difficulty. Very
soon a few successful operations produced a great
impression, and sick and suffering ones eagerly sought
help. In Hai-cheng there, are over sixty opium shops
and dens, and the disastrous results are seen and felt on
every hand. The need for an opium refuge was thus
quickly felt by Dr. Westwater, in order to help those
who were making sincere and strenuous efforts to free
themselves from the thraldom of this vice, and soon one
was fitted up. A very encouraging incident occurred in
this connection : a native doctor, who had smoked opium
64
Shorn of our $$tmtcljima pissioit
for twenty years, becoming interested in Christianity,
joined the Medical Mission staff as an unpaid voluntary
worker, and set apart a room in his compound in order
that preaching might be regularly conducted.
AVhile at Hai-cheng, Dr. Westwater continued to visit
Liao-yang, and after a time premises were secured, which
enabled the work to be carried on more satisfactorily.
The dire effects of the famine had been keenly felt in
the surrounding neighbourhood, and Dr. Westwater
found that the distribution of famine relief, which had
been systematically carried through, proved a great help
to the introduction of mission work. It was computed
that 20,000 persons had received help in the villages lying
to the north of Liao-yang. Dr. Westwater had visited
4000 homes in connection with the relief work, and
had thus been brought into close contact with the life
of the people. The long-continued opposition began to
give way, and a favourable change in the attitude of all
Dispensary Casses took place ; and when the dispensary
opened in was opened, the little waiting-room was
Liao-yang. crowded with over a hundred patients.
Many indications of appreciation and gratitude were
received. Among these was the presentation to Dr.
WestAvater of a complimentary umbrella, with the names
of 40 villages and 300 subscribers attached. Grateful
hearts prove fertile soil for the sowing of the good seed,
and a way is thus prepared for the healing touch of the
Divine Master.
The Children’s New Year Offering for 1891 Avas devoted
to The restoring of the mission houses injured by recent
floods in Moulcden, and the erection of a hospital in
Liao-yang. After long searching for a site for a hospital
had proved unavailing, and just Avhen Dr. WestAvater
was giving up the quest as hopeless for the time being,
Hlfbtcnl Htbsion 2Motk
65
Hospital site.
a remarkable combination of providential circumstances
enabled him to obtain a most eligible piece of ground,
situated within the city wall, and close to one of the
principal gates. It was looked upon as a significant
fact, both by the missionaries and native Christians,
that this site tvas part of the “ glebe ” of an
ancient temple. All felt that, in the acquisi-
tion of this ground, the Lord was working with them,
and they were filled with fresh courage in seeking to
raise the standard of the Cross in this great heathen
city. It is interesting to add, that the hospital rests on
a solid foundation composed of the stones of the ancient
temple itself ; and the great bell, which for over 300
years had accompanied the chanting of the Buddhist
liturgy, now hangs in the hospital tower, and every
morning its deep tones are heard all over the city, calling
the patients to the worship of the one true God.
The erection of the hospital and other necessary
mission buildings at Liao -yang entailed much oversight
and labour, and in 1891 Dr. and Mrs. Westwater re-
moved to that city, where Mr. Wylie was already located,
leaving Mr. Macintyre to hold the fort in Hai-cheng.
The damage to mission property in Moukden through the
flood proved so extensive, that nearly all the Children’s
Offering was required for its restoration, so that little was
forthcoming from that source for the building of the Liao-
yang hospital. However, a warm friend of missions, Mr.
J. T. Morton, London, placed a handsome sum at the
disposal of the Mission Board, which was used for this
purpose, and soon the results were seen in a beautiful
and commodious hospital. It was formally
erected! opened, in May 1892, by Mr. Duncan
M‘Laren, who was then on a visit to Man-
churia. Turning the key in the main entrance, Mr.
5
66
Sdorg of our §Stanxjmra pissiott
M'Laren said, “ I open this hospital in the name of
Jesus, for the preaching of the gospel and the healing
of the sick.”
The opening ceremony was accompanied by an im-
posing spectacle. The compound was crowded with men
hearing flags and curious devices on poles, strange
music was discoursed, and numbers of crackers were
fired. A tablet, with the three Chinese characters
LIAO-YANG HOSPITAL.
meaning “ Tree Healing Hall,” and which had been
previously paraded through the town, was put up above
the door, while other two tablets were sus-
^pened3,1 pended on the pillars of the verandah.
A service was then held in the large
waiting-room, at which some of the city mandarins
were present. Hearty praise and prayer were offered
to the loving Father for His goodness. Chang, the
dispenser, spoke of the benefits which the preaching
of the “Jesus’ doctrine” and the healing of the sick
had brought to the native Church ; nor were those in
flebital mission (Stork
67
the far-off home Church forgotten, greetings and thanks
being sent to them.
A very interesting occurrence took place in Liao-yang
in 1893. Some of the literati rented a house to use
as a lecture hall, in which to explain to the people the
“ Sacred Edict,” one of the Chinese classics. They
did all they could to induce Chang, Dr. West water’s
dispenser, to act as their lecturer, by promise of large
remuneration. Failing in this, and being somewhat
discouraged in other ways, some withdrew, those who
remained consulted together, and eventually called on
Dr. West water, and proposed to transfer the hall and
furniture to the Mission as a preaching chapel. Thus
it marvellously came to pass that men who
Preaching ... .
chapel pro- did not themselves believe the gospel pro-
vided by non- vided a building in which it could be pro-
Chr.stians. ciaj[mec[ to others. With glad heart Mr.
Wylie wrote regarding this, and at the same time
related that in the village of Fang-kang-pu, not far
from Liao-yang, a place of worship had been erected
mainly by the members there. This village had suffered
greatly from the floods of 1888, which did not spare
the village temple. Nothing was done to repair it, and
the gods of clay lie in a confused heap, a few yards
from the spot where the villagers have erected a build-
ing in which to worship the one true God.
The medical missionaries made long and numerous
journeys into the country, and foimd their medicine
chests a powerful influence in disarming suspicion and
facilitating mission work. The following little incident
serves to illustrate this. A heathen crowd had gathered
round Mr. Webster one night in an inn, and began
discussing about the foreign stranger who had come
into their midst. They were not slow in displaying
68
&toq) of mu $$lancljuria fission
distrust of him ; but just then a man came in, who at
once went up to Mr. Webster in a frank, fearless way.
He then turned to the others, who seemed greatly
amazed at his conduct, and said, “ Don’t
favour of you know the foreign gentleman? He is
Medical a friend of Dr. Westwater’s, who has a
hospital for the sick, where the blind see,
the lame walk, the deaf hear, and all are counselled
to virtue.” A whole chorus of Ai yalis showed that
his testimony to the good work of the doctor had
dispelled all their suspicion.
Another much-needed addition to the medical staff
was made in the appointment of Dr. David C. Gray in
1892. Shortly after his arrival in Man-
or. D. c. Gray. cjmrja> j)r (}ray -was stationed at Liao-yang,
and his presence enabled Dr. and Mrs. Westwater to
return home for a much-needed rest.
CHAPTER VIII
WORK AMONG THE WOMEN
has been said that the chief test of the civilisa-
; tion of a people lies in its treatment of woman ;
and, weighed in this balance, the boasted civilisa-
tion of China is found to be woefully wanting.
For though woman in China is on a higher level
than in many other heathen lands, and though
^ , she is not degraded, she is, as a high
position in authority puts it, distinctly dethroned.
China. Qne fac£ aione attests this : China is a
land in which education is greatly appreciated, and
where there is a thorough system — according to
Chinese ideas — open to boys, and yet there is no
provision made for educating girls. The vast majority
of the millions of women in China cannot read one
character of their own language. The young Chinese
wife does not enter a house of her own as mistress, but
has to be content with a subordinate position in her
husband’s home, and be ever at the beck and call of her
mother-in-law. She does not appear in public with her
husband, nor is it the custom for her to eat with him ;
thus the marriage tie brings with it no idea of com-
panionship on terms of equality. Though for a con-
siderable portion of her life considered of little account,
the rolling years usually bring to the Chinawoman
70
£?torg of our pmtdjitm Ptssicw
influence and power; and when her sons take home
their wives, her day of ruling comes, and her dominion
extends as her descendants increase. Thus the im-
portance of mission work among the women and girls
can hardly he overestimated. Many a lau-tai-tai, or
“ venerable grandmother,” with her strong individuality
GEOUP OP MANCHU WOMEN.
and tenacity of purpose, is building up barriers against
the entrance of the truth into her family circle. How
all-important that such as she should be reached, and
won over to the cause of righteousness !
The women of China, in a great measure, must be
reached through women’s agency. This fact was early
realised by our missionaries in Manchuria. The condi-
tions, however, which attended pioneer work in the interior,
SSork among the SSomctt
71
made it inexpedient for even the missionaries’ wives to
leave the port in the first days of the mission; but
by and by, when curiosity about the foreigner had in
a measure abated, and prejudice had been overcome, a
First door was opened. Miss Pritty, as already
missionary stated, Avas the first Zenana missionary
to women. appointed to enter on work in Manchuria.
She took up residence in Moukden in 1882, and, as
soon as possible, a boarding-school for girls was begun.
Miss Pritty continued to work as one of our mission-
aries till 1886, when she married the Eev. Thomas
Fulton of the Irish Presbyterian Mission. After Miss
Pritty left, the school was superintended by Mrs. Eoss
and Mrs. Webster. For several years the pupils num-
bered about fifteen girls, but in 1888 twenty-seven
were admitted. This increase was largely owing to the
famine, which rendered many children homeless ; and
it was found necessary to open two small orphanages,
one for boys and one for girls, the following year.
The benefits accruing from the boarding-school have
been widely felt. Girls have been trained to read
within its walls, and, becoming familiar
with Christian truth, have been able in not
lng-scnool. ?
a few instances to do something to dispel
the darkness around their homes. It is a work which
in the future ought to be greatly developed, fraught as
it is with bright promise.
In the autumn of 1890 two additional missionaries
set sail for Manchuria, — Miss Strutliers and Miss Wilson.
Both were appointed to go to Moukden, but, unfor-
tunately, Miss Wilson’s health broke down almost
immediately, and she was obliged to resign. Miss
Struthers resigned in 1891, but remains in Manchuria
as the wife of the Eev. George Douglas. Another
Storn of our Pmulpmn $jps$ibu
72
appointment was made in 1891, when Miss Inglis
accompanied her brother to Moukden. She also
married, becoming in the following year the wife of
Dr. Christie.
Though no lady doctor has as yet gone to Manchuria,
medical work among women has been carried on. Dr.
Medical work Christie has not found the same difficulty
among in reaching women as has been experienced
in many parts of China proper. He has
devoted two days in the week to women, when a
large number gather in the waiting-room of the men’s
hospital. A women’s hospital being found indispensable
for the treatment of serious cases, temporary premises
were secured in 1892 in a compound quite distinct from
the men’s hospital. In this department of work, Mrs.
Christie has assisted her husband ; and with the help
of Mrs. Wang, the matron, a great deal of good work
has been done. The first patient admitted to the little
hospital was a Mongol woman, who had travelled many
a weary li to receive sight. Many others have been
drawn from distant parts of the country, and have re-
turned home to proclaim what they have seen and heard.
In addition to the boarding-school and the medical
work for women, classes for the Christian women have
been held in Moukden, principally taught
by Mr. Boss. Systematic training in Bible
knowledge was given to all who could be
gathered together, and then they were sent home to
impart to others what they themselves had learned.
Village schools for girls have been started in various dis-
tricts, both in the north and in the south. An extension
of work in this direction is much to be desired, and efforts
are being made for the establishment of these schools
in all places* where there is a Christian community.
Classes for
women.
Stork among the ©lomcn
73
As already recorded, Mrs. Alexander Westwater, after
her husband’s death, began work in Hai-cheng. She
devoted much of her time while there to visiting the
women in and around the city. A Bible-class and
prayer meeting proved fruitful in good results, and a
weekly meeting in a neighbouring village was fairly
attended. \Aromen’s work from the beginning was laid
down on excellent lines in Liao-yang, and soon hopeful
results were apparent. When Dr. and Mrs. Westwater
settled in Liao-yang, the latter took up and carried on
work among the women. The Christian
instruction in the girls’ school, and the
services for the women members of the
church, were conducted by her, and she had the
joy of seeing the light of life break on more than one
dark soul. A woman thus described this change one
day : “We used to feel as if we were walking in the
dark ; we knew that we must die some day, but we did
not know where we were going, blow we are walking
in the light, and know that when we die we are going
to the heavenly home which Jesus has prepared for us,
and we have nothing to fear.”
A Training Home for Bible-women and a small
hospital for women having been erected, Mr. Ross
opened this building in November 1892. By this time
Mrs. Alexander AArestwater, who had been home on fur-
lough, returned, and took up her residence at Liao-yang.
With her came a newly-appointed missionary, Miss
Sinclair. The training of four Bible-women was begun
at once by Mrs. Alexander Westwater, one
Bible-women ^he students being sent from Mouk-
den. During the first ten months, class
instruction was given daily ; latterly it was limited to
three days a week, the women going out on the other
74
^torjr of our Ulmubuna $pssioit
Women’s
hospital.
Dr. D.
married
days with Mrs. Westwater to visit. This was found to
work well, as it gave the students confidence in speaking
to others, and they soon had more invitations to visit and
teach than they could overtake. Sunday services were
held in the new class-room, when forty to fifty, in-
cluding the school girls, attended. An inquirers’ class
was also held once a week, fourteen of the number
being applicants for baptism.
Interesting work had also been begun in connection
with the women’s hospital, when the war-clouds began
to gather, and all the missionaries were
obliged to leave Liao-yang. In 1895, Miss
Sinclair resigned, and became the wife of
C. Gray. Shortly before, Mrs. Westwater
Dr. Gordon, one of the Irish Presbyterian
missionaries in Manchuria. Thus Liao-yang, as well as
Moukden, was now left without any lady-worker except
the missionaries’ wives.
The village women, and those belonging to the
working classes, are very ignorant. Their minds are
dull and vacant, not because they are
deficient in ability, but because their facul-
ties have not been exercised. Frequently
a simple question will be met with the answer, accom-
panied by a shako of the head, “ How can I tell, I am
only a woman ! ” But when the Spirit of the Lord lays
hold on such as these, they become fearless, and, like
the men, are ready to give a reason for the hopes they
cherish. The story of Widow Kao illustrates this. A
poor man without home or earthly friends, but who had
found the Friend of sinners, went to lodge with this
woman in Tieh-ling. Through his influence Mrs. Kao
was induced to frequent the chapel, and soon became a
believer. On account of her adherence to Christianity,
ViUage
women.
(Stork among tbt Komra
75
she suffered a good deal of persecution, her own
daughters becoming her persistent opponents,
story of Some time after her conversion, the man
from whom she had first heard the message
of salvation died suddenly, and her daughters used his
death as an argument to try and get their mother to
give up the strange doctrine which had bewitched her,
as they described her condition. “You see,” they said,
“ this man was a Christian, and he has died ; you had
better take care lest you die too.” “ Well,” replied their
mother, “ the doctrine about Jesus, which you urge me
to deny, has made me better prepared and more willing
to die than I was before, and I don’t see why I should
give it up.”
It is still the day of small things in regard to women’s
work in Manchuria. Women form but a small pro-
portion of the membership of the Church,
wMchwaits anc^ many those who have entered the
fold need instruction and guiding help. It
is clear that this paramount duty can best be attained
by the training of earnest Christian women, and sending
them out as the instructors and soul-winners of their
countrywomen ; for it is true of the women as of the men,
that a native agency well directed is the channel which
God most richly blesses. In 1892, Mr. Eoss wrote from
Moukden : “ The work here awaiting the true-hearted
worker is great and pressing ” ; and there is every reason
to hope that, when the unrest occasioned by war has
subsided, even a wider door of entrance than before will
be opened up.
Four lady missionaries are ready to enter,
appointments. tw0 of whom are full7 qualified doctors,—
Dr. Kate K. Paton and Dr. Mary C. Horner ;
and it is expected that their knowledge of medicine
76
Sfovg of our pCant^uria fission
will unlock many a hitherto closed door, and open a
way for the glad tidings to reach the women among the
higher ranks of society. The other two ladies, Miss
Jones and Miss Davidson, will find great opportunities
also awaiting them. Not only is there the aggressive work
among the heathen, and the very important work among
the children, but there are now hundreds of women
longing to be trained in the things pertaining to the
Kingdom. Many of these are simple souls who have
caught a glimpse of the beauty of the King, and have
turned their faces Zionwards ; but the pilgrim way is
beset for them with manifold temptations, and the
Word of life is a sealed book to them, because they
cannot read. How great is their need of strengthening
and encouraging, and how solemn the duty which lies
on the home Church, to seek by prayer and every effort
possible, that such as these shall not fall from grace, but
be helped to grow “ unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ.”
CHAPTER IX
STRENGTHENING THE STAKES
MOUKDEN CHURCH.
HE chapel in
Moukden in
which the
Sahhath ser-
vices were
held, and
which was
hallowed by
sacred mem-
ories as the
birthplace of
many a soul,
had by 1889
become quite
insufficient
to accommo-
date the
members.
The erection of a new church was therefore felt to be
indispensable. The students of our Church
Erection of r . ..... ..
Moukden took up the pressing need, and raised the
church. greater part of the necessary funds to build a
handsome church, — the members themselves doing what
they could to help its erection, by providing bricks and
77
78
^forjr of our ffl ant burnt pbsioit
giving a large amount of labour. The church is situated
in the east suburb close to the city wall. Everything
about the exterior is thoroughly Chinese, and has been
wisely planned to meet the ideas of Chinese etiquette,
and make for the things regarding peace. For instance,
it has communication at front and back with parallel
streets, so that the men can enter from one and
the women from another.
What a triumph to the power of the gospel this
Christian edifice is, rearing its pagoda tower and
vieing in prominence with heathen temples ! The
dedication service took place in October 1889. The
church, seated for 700 people, was full, while the
crowd of interested spectators outside behaved with the
utmost decorum. It was quite sufficient that a native
Christian should stand at the door and intimate politely
that it was a great day for the Christians, and that
members were so numerous there was no
room for outsiders. Little wonder that, in
his opening sermon, Mr. Macintyre should
sound a note of triumph, and contrast the old days of
hostility, when the “ Jesus’ religion ” was hated and every
effort was made to stamp it out of the city, with the
peace and comfort in which they were meeting that day.
At the close of the service, twelve adults were baptized,
and it is deeply interesting to note that it was Mr.
Wylie’s hand that administered the rite, — the time and
place marking, as it does, an epoch in the history of the
Mission. In the afternoon the Lord’s Supper was
observed, little groups of Christians from remote
villages sitting down with the city members at the
Communion Table.
To meet the growing requirements of the work,
the church property has had to be increased. A
Dedication
service.
§fmtg%mng % Shakes
79
Women’s
gallery.
gallery to seat 200 women lias been added to the
church itself, while two adjoining halls have been built,
one for men and one for women. These additions
have proved valuable additions to the work,
the women’s gallery having been found most
advantageous in inducing more women to
attend church, meeting, as it does, all national scruples,
as the women neither see the men nor are seen by
them.
Truly it pays to preach the gospel in Manchuria,
would have been the hearty, thankful verdict of even
the grumblers, could they have shared in the writer’s
privilege of worshipping in the Moukden church on a
Sabbath in the summer of 1892. The well - filled
church, the earnest intelligent faces of the worshippers,
the hearty praise, the glad solemnity of sitting down
at the Master’s Table with 400 Chinese, the joy of
seeing 17 baptized in the name of the one Father,
made an impression, every memory of which is an
inspiration.
Negotiations for union with the Irish Presbyterian
Mission were opened in 1889, and, with the hearty
„ . ... approval of the Irish Assembly and of our
the Irish own Synod, the union was brought to a
Mission. happy consummation the following year.
The missionaries representing the two Churches met in
conference at Moukden in May 1891, and the decisions,
arrived at make this gathering one of historic interest,
shaping as they did the future of the Church of Christ
in Manchuria.
The first step taken was the formation of a united
Presbytery. After discussion, it was agreed without
a dissentient voice that it should be a native Presbytery,
a court of the native Church, at which the missionaries
so
^forg of our Hlanchuritx HUssion
should be present as advisers, and that the official
language should be Chinese. The wisdom
Presbytery °* t,'us decision will at once be seen, as it
legislates for a strong, self-supporting, self-
governing Church of the future. Nor were the
missionaries less willing to forecast the future in re-
gard to the hounds of the Presbytery. They named it
Kuan Tung, or “East of the Barrier,” thus embracing all
the territory which lies east of the mountain pass where
the Great Wall of China runs into the sea. Two con-
gregations were recognised by the Conference as already
formed ; the one being Moukden, the other Newell wang.
The principle that guided the Conference in the forma-
tion of others was the one already acknowledged,
namely, the territorial ; extensive parishes or districts
being embraced in the word “ congregation.” Thus the
Moukden church really included a district of twenty
miles. The Newchwang church embraced
Formation of ppe re£,jon as far south as Port Arthur, — a
congregations. °
distance taking five days to travel ; while the
Chiu-tsai-kou church included a narrow strip of land
near the Ya-lu river of about 100 miles in length. Four-
teen district congregations were thus formed, in all of
which there were scattered members, no land unoccupied
by the Mission being included.
Moukden and Newchwang were the only congrega-
tions which up to this time had elders. The Conference
agreed that the newly-formed congregations should be
asked to elect elders, and that in all the sessions the
moderator should be a Chinaman.
In May of the following year, 1892, the first meeting
of the native Presbytery was held at Newchwang. Only
nine of the members were Chinamen, distance and
difficulty of travel preventing more from being present ;
J§fmig%ning ±Ije Stakes
81
but though few in number, they represented no less
than twenty congregations, with a total membership of
two thousand. These native elders showed
Meeting of themselves most desirous, not only for the
prosperity of the Church, but also for its
purity. On the opium question they gave forth no un-
certain sound, and legislated in such a way as to show
they knew and feared its dire effects, and that those who
sold or used it in any form should not enter the
Church’s fold. The only exception they made was to
this effect : “ Inquirers who are opium smokers are to
seek the aid of the foreign doctor ; and if, by reason of
long use or other cause, it is impossible to effect a cure, and
if the doctor certifies that to abandon the habit means to
Opium forfeit life, then a special dispensation may
question be granted, and, other things being satis-
discussed. factory, he may be baptized.” At the Pres-
bytery meeting the following year, the attitude of the
Chinese Christians towards the opium traffic was even
more uncompromising. One of the points under dis-
cussion hinged on the question, Whether a Chinese
physician or druggist should be debarred from enter-
ing the Church if he sold morphia pills as medicine for
the cure of opium smoking ? A small majority agreed
that such a man should not be admitted, but eventually
the matter was remitted to sessions to discuss and
report to next meeting of Presbytery. Drastic measures
such as these for maintaining the purity of the Church
seem worthy of mention, as they indicate the spirit of
the men who have been raised up as the early apostles
of the Church of Manchuria.
The great aim the missionaries kept in view was the
settling of native pastors over the congregations as soon
as practicable. The elders were stimulated to encourage
6
82
^(org of our pant luma Pissbir
tire members to raise funds for pastoral support, and the
training which had been given from the first to evan-
Native
pastors
gelists began to take a wider scope. A
theological course of eight years’ duration
was decided on. Most of the training in-
cluded in this course is practical, for after one month
of each year spent in Moukden, exclusively devoted to
lectures and study, the members of this Theological Class
THEOLOGICAL CLASS.
are scattered far and wide over the country to preach
the gospel, as well as to study the Word for themselves.
It is wisely felt that the knowledge they thus gain in
soul-winning will tit them to become efficient pastors in
the days to come.
Much enthusiasm attended the inauguration of the
new Theological Training Scheme in 1894. It had been
arranged that a junior class should meet in Moukden in
§tattg%mitg t\t Stakes
83
spring, and that a senior class should be taught in
autumn. The first was attended by over sixty men,
drawn from various parts of the field. Several elderly
men were among the number, — one old man of seventy
taking his place in the class, desirous of learning as
much as he could. Four missionaries, one
ciass0^03,1 whom was Mr. Wylie, took part in the
teaching. It had been determined that each
course of study should include some aspect of Con-
fucianism, as well as Bible study and theology ; and the
first series of these lectures, comparing Confucian
morality with Christianity, excited much interest :
the keen discussions which took place in the evenings,
when the members were by themselves, indicating the
thoughtful interest that was awakened. The autumn
course was intended for evangelists, men who had
already had considerable training, and had passed ex-
aminations • the number who attended was thus of
necessity limited, but over a dozen men took advantage
of the instruction given.
The annual Presbytery meetings held in May now
bear to the Manchurian Church much the same sig-
nificance as the Synod does to the home Church.
Twelve representative elders took part in the meetings
of 1894. One of the chief discussions
Discussions in , , , , , , . , .
Presbytery. centred round the creed m regard to words
and phrases which would best bring out
certain meanings to the Chinese. In reference to the
expression “ true God,” no arguments used would
induce the native elders to employ the word “true” in
such a conjunction, — it being their opinion, emphatically
expressed, that it was entirely superfluous. The Chinese
elders brought before the Presbytery certain recom-
mendations regarding the establishment and conduct of
84
Sforg of c«r fffmtcljuria fission
Christian schools, thus showing their anxiety that the
children should not only he educated, but placed under
Christian supervision. The marriage and burial customs,
a mutual-aid guild, and a native pastorate, were among
the other important items brought under consideration.
VALLEY OF VICTORY.
CHAPTER X
IN THE FAR NORTH
The far
North.
aP till the year 1892 the policy of the Mission
had been to open stations forming the links
of a chain which at that time extended
from Xewchwang to Kai-yuen. The leading
of the Holy Spirit had guided this action, and the
well-nigh pentecostal showers which had been vouch-
safed led to the expectation of a future of ever-
increasing blessing in the districts already opened
up. In the winter of 1891, Mr. Robertson and Dr.
Young had made a journey to the far north
of Manchuria, and prospected the district in
the neighbourhood of the Sungari river.
Dr. Greig, of the Irish Presbyterian Mission, had with
great difficulty secured a footing in the city of Kirin, the
capital of the province, but no missionary had entered
the vast region to the north. A ray of light, however,
had penetrated the darkness through means of two
native colporteurs of the Bible Society, and a few con-
verts and inquirers were awaiting the advent of a
missionary. Thus again another door was opened, and
the Guiding Pland pointed clearly to enter in. The
opening of a new station in this district was agreed to
in 1892, and Mr. Robertson and Dr. Young were
appointed as the pioneers.
86
Sdorg of our $fmulntm fission
Sungari
district.
Much of the Sungari district is flat, and few trees are
to he seen ; but away to the east rise high mountains,
and in their vicinity primeval forests wave, while to the
west and north stretch the plains of Mon-
golia. The soil is fertile, and grain is
plentiful, but the difficulty of communica-
tion prevents much being exported. There is, however,
a considerable traffic in wood, the abundance of supply
to be found in the forests rendering it so cheap, that it
pays to cart it over the 400 miles of execrable roads
which lie between the Sungari and the markets to the
south.
In choosing a centre in which to begin mission opera-
tions, many things have to be considered. The claims
of several towns asserted themselves ; but one thing
was clear to the pioneer missionaries, that
cheng-p'u. work must begin at Shuang-cheng-pu, where
there were some whose hearts God had
touched, and who were eager for baptism. These
Christians were most anxious that a chapel should be
opened in their town, promising that they would not
only attend for further instruction in the doctrine, but
would do their utmost to get others to hear the good
news. A small compound with a house was hired,
where the converts could meet and worship Him who
had brought them out of darkness into His marvellous
light. After these arrangements had been completed,
the missionaries withdrew southwards for a time.
On their return in the autumn they found the aspect
of the country very different. A rigorous winter held
sway on their former visit ; now their entry into the
city of Shuang-cheng-pu is best described in Dr. Young’s
own words : “ Mud, mud, without a stone, as we plough
our way through the West Gate of the city, and what a
§it tbe Jfat $tortjr
87
change ! The main street, in winter alive rvith traffic,
is now a sea of impassable mud. In winter it looks one
of the broadest, finest thoroughfares in North China ;
now, except on a narrow raised sidepath, it would be
impossible to take two steps along the street, as even a
horse would immediately stick in the bottomless mud.1’
A WINTRY SCENE.
It was found that the landlord of the property which
had been rented had joined the ranks of the inquirers ;
but the powers that were, which in this case were
clearly the powers of darkness, were beginning to bestir
themselves, and he was being threatened and cursed for
letting his property to the “foreign devil.” Things
were brought to a climax when the landlord, expressing
88
^torg of oar pane buna Passion
liis desire to remove to the country, leased his own
house to Dr. Young for three years. No
Opposition. , „ , .
sooner did the Yamen runners hear of this
than the excitement began. The landlord was waylaid,
beaten, and carried to the Yamen, where he was again
beaten by order of the mandarin. The workmen whom
Dr. Young had engaged to repair the property, legally
leased to him, were compelled to stop work, while
insults and threatenings were met with on every hand.
After a time the landlord was liberated on bail, but
liberty was refused to Dr. Young either to alter the
property or dispense medicine.
During this trying time the converts remained faith-
ful, and it may well be taken as a token of future bless-
Whole-
hearted
converts.
ing, that the first members of the Church in
this far-off outpost were men whole-hearted
in their devotion, and willing to suffer, if
needs be, for Christ’s sake. Even in those days of
persecution, the Lord added to the Church, and those
who had found the way were kept busy telling the story
of the Cross. He who has promised to make the rough
places plain before His servants, helped at this crisis in
an unexpected way. A soldier, shot in the head, was
carried one day into the city in a dying condition. Dr.
Young sent word that he might be able to save him ;
but it was not till after the poor man had been taken
the round of the native doctors that he was carried to
the inn in which Dr. Young was staying. A successful
operation saved his life, and brought about a change in
the disposition of the populace. The mandarin in
charge of the soldiers in the city publicly called on
Dr. Young to offer thanks, while the inn, which had
been almost deserted, was now a busy scene, patients
of all classes flocking to the doctor, who had been
In % Jfar 3M& 89
informed by the Yamen that he might heal as many as
he liked !
To the east of Sliuang-cheng-pu lies the city of
A-shih-ho, with a large population, and a densely popu-
lated country lying around. It soon became
apparent that A-shih-ho was the best centre
for evangelistic effort, and again Dr. Young’s medical
STREET IN A-SHIH-HO.
skill was the key to open up an entrance. During his
first visit of three weeks’ duration he treated upwards of
five hundred patients, and, as he expressed it, “thus
carved our way through abscesses and ulcers into the
favour of the people.” Almost immediately the first
breach in this heathen stronghold was made, when five
men gave in their names as inquirers ; and very shortly
afterwards a property in an eligible locality, suitable for
both medical and evangelistic work, was offered to the
90
^torjr of our $$lmttlraria Ifissioit
Mission, which it is hoped will be available as soon as
work can be resumed.
At Shuang-cheng-pu the foundations of a church
were being securely laid ; the members were carefully
instructed in Bible knowledge, and were being taught,
among other things, the duty of Christian liberality.'
When Chao, the chapel-preacher, was told
puito°tl0n" that a plate should be handed round at the
Sabbath service, he was very dubious of the
results ; but Mr. Robertson pointed out to him that it
was better many outsiders should misunderstand, than
that the members should not he trained from the first to
give as they had received. It is worthy of note that the
first congregational collection taken in Shuang-cheng-pu
amounted to four shillings, equal to a home collection of
two pounds.
By the spring of 1894 the membership had increased
to twenty-six, and the gospel had been carried far be-
yond the city walls by means of the Word and the
living testimony of the converts. Chao, the preacher,
reliable and enthusiastic, did much to further
preachei-0 ^he efforts of the missionaries. This man’s
history is full of interest. A brother one
day bought a Gospel from a passing colporteur. It fell
into the hands of Chao, who was a doctor and the best
educated member of the family. He took it up from
time to time, and one day read that the Jesus spoken
of could heal all diseases and cast out devils. This
arrested his attention, and made him wish to hear more.
His brother told him he should go to Tieh-ling, to the-
explain-boobcliapel. Chao took his advice, and day
after day he listened and watched from a back seat in
the Tieh-ling chapel ; then he went home to study the
problems of Christianity, and when at last the light
In % cfar fort^
91
broke on his soul, he presented himself to the astonished
preacher in Tieh-ling well equipped with Christian truth.
Three years after this, he was chosen as the channel to
help to convey the water of life to the dry and thirsty
region round Shuang-cheng-pu, — a vessel made meet for
the Master’s use for winning others, having fought his
own way from darkness and doubt to peace and joy.
Among the early converts was an interesting woman,
the second wife of Liu, the landlord of the Mission
house. When Mrs. Liu was married she
was a heathen, but soon became interested
in Christianity, and began to learn to read in order
that she might study the Bible for herself. When she
was being examined with a view to baptism, the grasp
and originality of her answers greatly surprised the mis-
sionary. Her husband said with pride of her, “ Oh, my
heart is dull, but her heart is quick ; she knows far
more than I do, and loves it more.” Mr. Robertson
writes thus of her baptism : “ She stood so modestly,
the plain little creature, her face round as a frying-pan,
and all marked with smallpox pits ; and yet I felt like
Samuel anointing David, for I knew a genuine religious
earnestness stood before me, humble, contrite, and pure,
and I saw one of our future Bible-women in the north, —
a Manchu woman, strong, clever, and earnest. And so
the last was first, the wife entered before Liu, who knew
us from the first ; let us hope, as he has helped to
sanctify her, she may in turn wholly sanctify him ! ”
CHAPTER XI
LENGTHENING THE CORDS
HE work iii the
district to the
north of Mouk-
den, of which
Kai-yuen is the
centre, had by
this time spread
with a rapidity
far surpassing the
most sanguine ex-
pectations. To-
wards the close
of 1892, the first
Communion was
dispensed in the
city of Kai-yuen,
when sixty -five
men and women
CITY WALL, tieh-ling. partook of the
Supper, while
thirty-seven applicants for baptism looked on from
a corner of the overcrowded chapel. This proved a
time of quickening, the Spirit’s power being very
manifest. Many were so impressed that they were
92
JTrttg%ttmg % (Kerbs
93
unable to control their emotion. One old woman
of seventy -nine was among the number,
'n who had walked fifteen miles in order to
Kai-yuen
acknowledge her Lord and Saviour and
receive baptism.
The ingathering of souls went on during 1893. In
October of that year, Mr. Webster itinerated in the
district, and found that the influence of the
of convert^ preaching of the gospel in the street chapel
in Kai-yuen had spread far and wide. In
the Tsai valley, thirty miles from Kai-yuen, he was kept
busy by those whose hearts were won, but who were
still very imperfectly instructed in the way of life.
In this district mountains and plains abound, and
places which fifteexr years ago were without an in-
habitant, are now thickly populated by industrious
farmers, merchants, and artisans. Uncultivated wastes
are being reclaimed, and the foundations are being laid
of an important wealth-producing region. The immi-
grants who have settled in these plains have left their
old graves and temples far behind : with them they
have left much of their national conservatism, and are
thus more open to receive new ideas. The Hai-lung-
cheng and Tung-hua districts are felt to be very hopeful
spheres for sowing the gospel seed, on account of this
and other reasons; and the duty of lengthening the
cords, and taking steps for the more thorough shep-
herding of the many converts in the north, has
been weighing heavily on our missionaries for some
time past.
At the May meetings of 1894, Mr. Webster brought
up the question of opening a new centre in Kai-yuen, and
offered to go and settle there, should the Manchuria
Committee and the Mission Board approve. Mr.
94
Sdovn of our Iflmvtlnma |flissioit
Webster’s proposal has been heartily sanctioned, and
though, on account of the war, it has not been carried
Proposal in into effect> it is expected that at no distant
regard to date lie will take up his residence in Kai-
Kai-yuen. yuen, from which vantage-ground he will be
able to superintend a work of rare promise, which,
with signal tokens of the Divine blessing resting upon
it, is already breaking forth on the right hand and on
the left.
The wide district round Tieh-ling has also proved a
field white unto the harvest ; and each year has seen an
increase in the good grain gathered in. The congregation
there has now its own elder and deacons, and its Christian
school. A much larger place of worship is required, and
the members are looking forward to building a church
Blessing in as soon as P088^^ and are anxious to do
Tieh-ling what they can to defray the expense them-
district. selves. In the country districts there lias
not been the same battle to wage with opposition as in the
cities ; and the greater number of the 252 members, who
at the end of 1894 were included in the Tieh-ling congre-
gation, live in neighbouring villages. In some of these
villages there are small chapels. An interesting instance
of this is to be found in Ying-pan, a village to the west,
where a merchant has built a little room, at the end
of his store, to serve as a chapel and inquiry room.
“ Those who come to buy talk to me in the shop, but
those who want to hear the doctrine talk to me in the
inner room,” were the merchant’s words regarding it.
When Mr. Inglis went to the village, this room was
so crowded that the meeting adjourned to the more
spacious apartment in this Christian’s private house,
where an audience of fifty heard of Jesus.
It is well to emphasise that in this district, as well as
3Tiitg%ning llje Curbs 95
in others throughout Manchuria, it was the message and
not the messenger which attracted men ; for of far the
larger proportion of inquirers, none ever saw a foreigner
till the missionary examined them for baptism. Thus
they were not drawn by curiosity, neither were there
any inducements nor worldly gain to be derived, nor
KAI-YUEN CHRISTIAN DOCTOR AND FAMILY.
were there any outward attractions in the simple chapels
and the unlettered evangelists. There was nothing at
all but the uplifted cross : “ I, if I be lifted up, will draw
all men unto Me.” Strong magnet of the ages, whose
power in drawing hearts never wanes !
In the villages along the main road from Tieliding to
96
^torn of our $flaralnma fission
Kai-yuen, there is now to be found a continuous line of
members. In the town of Wei-yuen-pu-
men, to the north of Kai-yuen, there is a
chapel, and the work begun there some years
ago is spreading to the villages beyond. The condition
of four small temples, which stand just outside of Wei-
yuen-pu-men, may be taken as the sign of the good
time coming. Some of the young inquirers broke in
pieces all the idols they contained some time ago, and
they now stand empty and desolate, no attempt having
been made to replace the destroyed images.
.North from Wei-yuen-pu-men, the lino of light is
carried to Tai-ping-ltou, where the mustard seed planted
by blind Chang is growing rapidly. With
Tai ping kou. exception of the salary paid to a Chris-
tian schoolmaster, the work has been going on with-
out any expense to the home Church. Many of the
members are farmers, who have voluntarily used what
leisure time they had in preaching. Two of the members
stand out conspicuously for their zeal. One of these, a man
named Liu, had been at one time a highway robber, and,
having been seized, was on the point of death when he
escaped with the halter round his neck. An opium
smoker and addicted to vice, conversion wrought on Liu
a mighty change, and his determined, resolute spirit has
marked him out as a leader. The other is a man named
Chao, whose humility and gentleness make him a strik-
ing contrast to Liu, but who has been equally valiant in
the good fight of faith, and in exerting his influence for
righteousness in the neighbourhood.
The light has been borne north from Tai-ping-kou to
the town of Mai-mai-kai. Here, after some
IVEcti- nicii_k3»i. . i i ■ i iii
trouble and persecution, a chapel has been
rented and a small beginning made. The next town of
girngtljciung fljc (Kerbs
97
importance in a northerly direction is the city of Kuan-
cheng-tzu, which is manned by the Irish Presbyterian
Mission, — our own Mission having no station farther
than Mai-mai-kai till the far-off Sungari region is reached.
Thus the torch of truth has been carried northwards.
In some of the centres, “the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light,” while, even in dis-
tricts where the light is yet dim and feeble, evidences
are not wanting that it is of the Lord’s own kindling.
i-lu.
But it is not only in the north that the cords have
been lengthened within recent years. About twenty-
three miles to the north-east of Moukden is the town of
I-lu, the busy centre of a large agricultural population.
It is a town “long drawn out,” its line of houses extend-
ing for about three miles along a valley. Standing as it
does well-nigh midway between Moukden and Tieh-ling,
the position of I-lu pointed it out as a good
central station, but for years it remained
utterly untouched. Native evangelists passing through
preached Christ, but no inquirers appeared, and they
spoke of it as very hard and flinty soil. Even col-
porteurs reported that they could sell no books in I-lu.
It has been said, “ When any other heathen is con-
verted a soul is saved, but when a Chinaman is converted
a power is gained ” ; and this seems to hold true even
when the convert appears weak and erring. Certainly,
in the opening up of I-lu, God made use of a very
unlikely instrument, choosing again “the weak things
of the world to confound things which are mighty.”
Many years ago a man named Jan was baptized in
Moukden, and shortly afterwards removed
to South China. On his return to Man-
churia, after a long absence, he went to
Shuang-cheng-pu, where Dr. Young tended him through
Instrument
used.
7
98
J$tnrg of our Panxlnuni HUssioit
a severe illness. He xvas afterwards engaged as a col-
porteur, but, not proving satisfactory, was on the point
of being dismissed, when it was resolved to give him
another trial. To the surprise of the missionaries, Jan
returned to Moukden, after a prolonged absence, with a
list of applicants for baptism, a number of whom were
in I-lu. Liu, the Moukden preacher, was sent to I-lu
to make full inquiries, and the good news proved true.
He found that one after another had gathered round
Jan in the evenings, some of whom had heard the gospel
in Moukden and Tieh-ling, and were anxious to join the
Christian Church. The inquirers showed they were in
earnest, for before Liu left they had paid for a house,
and had fitted it up for public preaching as well as for
a place of worship for themselves.
Mr. Ross, rejoicing in heart that an entrance had at
last been gained in I-lu, paid it a visit in order to
exhort and instruct the inquirers. Returning after the
New Year, he admitted fourteen into the Church by
baptism. The accommodation in the little
Baptisms. chapel was already inadequate for the num-
ber of those anxious to become members. Men who had
to be up before daybreak went every evening to the
chapel and remained till midnight, or until the preacher
in sheer exhaustion had to send them away. Writing
of this revival, Mr. Ross says, “This movement was
indeed like the beginning of the Church as recorded in
Acts.” One of the leaders, when trouble was hinted at,
said in one of the meetings, “ My Saviour died for me,
and if that year comes round when there is beheading
for His sake, I am ready.”
In the region which lies east of Moukden, signs are
appearing that “ the morning cometh,” and it is likely
that ere long a strategic point will require to be chosen
JTrirgtljrnhtg % (Eorbs
99
as a centre from which the work in this district can be
supervised. Historically, it is interesting
ground : Hsing-ching, the ancient capital of
the Manchus, being situated on one of its
plains, while Sarhoo, the battlefield which prepared the
way forManchu ascendancy over China, is close to one of
Historic
ground.
HSING-CHING.
its narrow valleys. The business centre for a wide extent
of the district is Hsing-ping-pu, a large and prosperous
town, commanding comparatively easy access to numer-
ous valleys which run in all directions among the
surrounding hills.
An evangelist has been sent to Hsing-ping-pu, and the
way has been wonderfully opened up for him in the
100 S&torg of out Paudnmu pissioit
beginning of his work. Only one house was vacant, but
no difficulty was experienced in securing it
Hsmg pmc pu. £or a c}iape[ . this was all the more striking
as it belonged to a subordinate of the Yamen. A bold
sect called Tsai-li-ti, who are intensely political, might have
proved formidable and dangerous, but Mr. Eoss had an
HSING-PING-PU.
opportunity of meeting some of the leaders during a
visit he paid to the district in 1893, and succeeded in
disarming their hostility, and coming to friendly terms
with them. During this visit several were baptized, and
others were more fully instructed, tvhile Mr. Eoss was
much impressed by the hopefulness of the outlook in
regard to spiritual results, and the importance of length-
ening the cords in this eastern district as soon as possible.
|Tfttg%nmg % Corbs
101
Valley of
Victory.
For some time blind Chang has been carrying on
aggressive work in the Yalley of Victory, at a consider-
able distance to the east of Tai-ping-kou.
This district has been open to colonists
for about thirteen years. One of the first
settlers was a man named Li, who after a time opened a
shop in a village near Tai-ping-kou, where he came under
the influence of the truth and was baptized. The day after
his baptism he returned to his farm in the distant valley.
Lonely, and longing for Christian fellowship, he affixed
a notice on a tree, at the spot where the highway passes
the end of the valley, intimating that a Christian named
Li lived not far off. It was seen by a Christian stone-
cutter, and soon Li had congenial friends.
Mr. Inglis accompanied Mr. Ross on a journey to the
Valley of Victory in 1891, when the first converts were
baptized and an infant church was founded. For a
time the work languished on account of
hostile surroundings, but the few members
remained firm, and when blind Chang
went, inquirers began to gather round him. On Mr.
Inglis’s return, two years after his first visit, he found
forty inquirers ; and though of these only nineteen were
found ready for baptism, it was felt that a genuine work
of grace was going on.
A congregational meeting was held after the baptismal
service, to which nearly all the members came, though
some had to walk the greater part of a day
tionaimeeting present. It was found that the most
central point was no less than fifteen miles
from the circumference, but the members agreed to meet
there for worship on Sundays. They elected two
managers, and invited blind Chang to remain as their
preacher, promising to provide him with board and
Numerous
inquirers.
102
Storg of our fflmitljurM
lodging. One of the members offered to open a school
at his own expense.
The story of one of those Mr. Inglis baptized is
interesting, as showing the leadings of providence.
Some years ago a great burning of heretical books took
CONVERTS IN VALLEY OF VICTORY.
place in the province of Kirin, when the library of this
convert’s father was destroyed ; but in the conflagration
one book, a New Testament, was saved.
Providential -phe son, a native doctor, read it, and on
finding that the doctrines were not Chinese,
nor the style classical, he at first despised it. God,
however, was leading him by a way he knew not, and the
J®rgtfmung tljc (Kerbs
103
Yalley of Victory came to be to him “a door of hope,”
for there he found the conquering Christ, and entered
on the overcoming life.
Mr. Inglis records of his journey in the “ New East,”
towards the close of 1893, that he travelled over 360
miles of road, and only one day passed by without his
meeting some member of the Church. Such
prospects were some of the bright prospects that were
opening up before the Mission in 1894, and
the following words of the Tieh-ling elder to Mr. Inglis —
“I think our province is like the rivers in the spring : the
ice is not yet broken up, birt it is ready to break ”■ —
seemed to well describe the spiritual condition of things.
But suddenly and unexpectedly the war-clouds gathered
and obscured the sky of fair promise, bringing all work
in the interior, so far as the foreign missionaries were
concerned, to a stop, and compelling them to betake
themselves to the port of iSTewcliwang.
CHAPTER XII
TRIED IN THE FURNACE
HAPAN’S formal declaration of war with
f W China was issued on the 1st of August
1894. It may be well to briefly state the
causes which led to this war. For a long
time a feeling of jealousy has existed between China
and Japan in regard to Korea. Though claimed
by China as a vassal, Japan enjoyed certain
o^war^ treaty rights with Korea, and the violation
of these rights by China, if not the cause,
was made the occasion for the declaration of war.
The oppression and misgovernment which had existed
for long in their country had at last raised a spirit of
rebellion in many Koreans, which in the spring of 1894
threatened to plunge the country in civil war. The
Korean Government sought China’s help to quell this
insurrection. The appeal was responded to, several
thousand Chinese soldiers being despatched to Korea.
Japan, quick and alert, and, as it has since transpired,
well prepared to enter on war, took advan-
tage at once of this condition of affairs in
Korea, and landed a large force in the
peninsula. From the first, Japan’s naval and military
tactics were characterised by promptitude and effi-
ciency. She quickly seized the strategic points of
104
Causes
of war.
iriib m tire Jurtrare
105
vantage round Seoul, the capital, and when her terms to
China were met by refusal, and by the demand for the
withdrawal of the Japanese troops, she resolutely deter-
mined to prevent the landing of any more Chinese
soldiers in Korea. How the Chinese were driven out of
their tributary kingdom of Korea, and the war carried
into their own borders ; how, unprepared and untrained
as they proved to be, they were defeated in nearly every
engagement; and how, with their fortresses and war-
ships captured, and their capital menaced, they had to
lay low their prestige and pride and sue for peace, — are
now facts of history. But what the idtimate political
results may be, arising from the war, is still a problem
which in a measure waits solution. That Russia is not
satisfied to have Vladivostock, a port which is icebound
for four months in the year, as the only terminus to the
Great Siberian Railway, now nearing com-
imsoivecT pletion, is well known. Whether she will
attempt to secure a port in Korea, which
would he open all the year round ; and whether, in this
event, the other European powers would acquiesce in
Russia thus obtaining a leading position on the east of
Asia, — are questions still fraught with anxiety. But
though the outlook may not he without some omens
of trouble still to come, and though it is yet too soon
to speak of results wrought on China through the rude
awakening she has received from her dream of superi-
ority, it is matter for devout gratitude that the war is at
an end. We may well leave results with Him to whom
all history is the unfolding of a mighty purpose, and
who may he hastening, in wrays we cannot fathom, the
coming of His kingdom in the Empires of the East.
The first visible effect of the war felt by our Mission
was crushing and heartrending. Fifteen hundred
106
Sstorg of our Parttburia fission
Manchu soldiers were summoned from Kirin, and, when
marching southwards to the seat of war, they con-
ducted themselves in a savage and ruffianly manner.
A band of these soldiers reached Liao-yang on 10th
August, and took up their quarters in an inn near
Mr. Wylie’s house and the preaching-chapel. Utterly
undisciplined and reckless, they first made a raid on
the chapel while preaching was going on, and succeeded
in putting the native evangelists to flight and wrecking
the premises. They then proceeded to Mr.
Mr 1 Wyii™ °f Wylie’s compound, but could not gain
admittance. In the meantime Mr. Wylie
communicated with the Yamen, and, receiving no reply,
he unfortunately started himself to seek help. Soon,
alas ! it reached the soldiers’ ears that a foreigner was
in the street ; they quickly sought Mr. Wylie out, and,
in spite of Deacon Liu’s intervention, they savagely
attacked him, ultimately leaving him for dead.
Dr. Gray, little dreaming of the awful tragedy which
was being enacted, was mounting his horse to ride to the
Yamen to see a patient, when a member rushed up to say
that the soldiers had wrecked the chapel. Not realising
the imminent danger, Dr. Gray started to call on Mr.
Wylie, and see if help was needed : thus he too was
out at the moment of greatest peril, but fortunately,
going by another way, he escaped meeting the soldiers.
Finding Mr. Wylie had left his house to go to the
Yamen, Dr. Gray concluded that he would probably go
from there to the hospital, so, hoping to meet him, he
rode on. On reaching the hospital, he learned that Mr.
Wylie had been attacked, and hastened to put on Chinese
dress to go and seek for him. Before he could start, a
commander with some soldiers from the Yamen arrived,
inquiring how they could help, and were immediately
Shirtr in the Jffrnaxr
107
asked to find and bring Mr. Wylie, the hospital dis-
pensers and other Chinese friends accompanying them.
Soon the unconscious sufferer was brought to Dr. Gray,
who, at the request of the Yamen official, had waited
behind. Everything that loving care could devise was
done, but, after lingering a few days, our martyred
missionary went home to receive his crown of glory.
MISSION HOUSE IN WHICH ME. WYLIE DIED.
Greatly beloved by all with whom he came in con-
tact, and ever conciliatory and wise in his treatment of
the Chinese, Mr. Wylie’s tragic death came as a great
and unexpected blow ; while the sudden quenching of
his young life, bright with the promise of a great use-
fulness, filled all hearts with deep sorrow.
Letter from
Liao-yang
members.
The following extracts from a letter sent
to his father by the members in Liao-yang,
show the impress he had made on Chinese hearts.
108
Utorg of our pmrtljuria pissiou
“To the honourable Mr. Wylie, — Your honourable
son came across the great seas to arouse the people.
Our pastor fell upon trouble, and his soul has gone on
high. Among his friends there is no one who does not
mourn. . . . Our pastor died like one of the many
prophets of old, and his good deeds, like theirs, will be
related after him. He has finished his great work.
He has preached by his conduct. He has awoke from
his dream, and is now close by the throne of God.
Holy living is rewarded with glory. Our pastor has
early entered the heavenly city. ... In the service of
his invisible Lord, his deep earnestness was remarkable.
In his love of visible man, his actions are well worthy
of imitation. When he saw the hungry, he fed him ;
he gave drink to the thirsty • he provided lodging for
the wanderer ; he clothed the naked ; he cared for the
sick ; he visited the prisoner. Cold winds or pouring
rain never prevented him from preaching the gospel in
town or village. By night in his bed he was ready to
proclaim the heavenly doctrines to any listener. His
goodness is worthy of being ever recorded, and is fitted
to be a noble example. Our pastor is gone, hut his life
lives in brightness before the eyes and in the ears of
men.” This letter was signed in name of all the
members of the Church of Liao-yang by eighteen
representatives.
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, Mrs. Alexander Westwater,
and Miss Sinclair, who were in Liao-yang at this sad
time, were also in considerable peril. The
missionaries. chief magistrate was friendly, and desirous
of rendering all protection in his power.
His entire force, however, only numbered fifty, and,
when attempting to procure the surrender of one of
the rioters who had been identified, the Kirin soldiers
fricir hr ilje Jftmtate
109
not only refused to submit to his authority, but actually
so menaced him that his chair-bearers had to run with
him for his life, while several of his retinue were cruelly
handled. He was thus entirely helpless, and it was in
the power of these lawless soldiers to work their evil
will, had not the Highest restrained them.
After the magistrate had been put to flight, every
patient left the hospital in terror, but the d^pensers and
servants loyally remained, not one deserting his post in
the hour of danger. Hews of the outrage having been
forwarded to Moukden, a mounted messenger was sent
to Liao-yang with reassuring messages. Proclamations
were posted up intimating that the missionaries were
under Government protection, and that in future no
Manchu troops would be allowed to enter the city. A
proclamation was also issued from Pekin to the same
effect.
On the last Sabbath of his life, Mr. Wylie held
a Communion service in the hospital instead of in
the chapel, in order that the women members might
also be present, as the arrangement of the building
allowed them to share in the privilege without being
seen by the men, thus avoiding offending Chinese
Mr Wylie’s propriety. About a hundred communi-
last Com- cants were present, the largest number
munion. that ever sat down together to the Lord’s
Supper in Liao-yang. How little they knew that he
who presided was delivering his last solemn message to
them, and that he was so soon to drink of the new wine
in his Father’s kingdom ! After Mr. Wylie’s death, the
Sabbath services continued to be held in the hospital.
During the service on 20th September, a band of
soldiers again caused great anxiety, forcing their way
into the hospital and afterwards into the mission com-
110 S'torjJ of om pCajitljurti Pissioit
pound, a riot being averted with great difficulty. On
account of this fresh danger and the uncertainty that
prevailed, it was deemed expedient that the ladies should
go to the port of Newch wang. Shortly afterwards the
other missionaries had to leave Liao-yang, and, the
country becoming more and more unsettled, all the
missionaries in the other parts of the interior were
Missionaries ^omPelle(i to leave their posts and also
proceed to proceed to Newell wang, by order of the
Newchwang. consul.
Dr. Ross, who a few months previously had received
the degree of D.D. from the Glasgow University, and
Mrs. Ross came home to Scotland for needed rest ; Dr.
Young also left China, but all the other missionaries
remained. Though shut in at Newchwang, they found
abundant opportunity for Christian service, not only
among the Chinese, but among the men of the British
and American gunboats, which were in dock there for
the winter. Later on, when the war drew nearer, pre-
parations were made for rendering help to the wounded
soldiers. In December a Chinese inn was rented, and
converted into a Red Cross hospital. The news soon
spread through the army, and many of the wounded
availed themselves of the merciful provision thus made
for them. As the fighting grew fiercer and the battles
more frequent, the number of patients increased, so that
other hospitals had to be improvised, and every available
help made use of. Customs officials, pilots, seamen, and
merchants all lent a hand, and worked cordially with
the missionaries in this labour of love.
From first to last about a thousand soldiers were
treated. Belonging for the most part to distant parts
of the Empire, these suffering strangers, far from kith
and kin, soon learned to trust the missionaries ; and
Strict xtt % if innate
111
tlieir genuine gratitude was expressed, not only by their
looks and words, but by the manner in
th^wounded which they submitted to the missionaries’
wishes and treatment. One soldier, the
spokesman of some forty or fifty men, said when they
were leaving, “ Pastors, we are returning to our camps,
and we will tell our officers, from the general down-
wards, what the foreigners have done for us ; and when
we return to our homes, we will make it known to our
fathers and mothers, our wives and children, and they
will hand it down to their children’s children, and you
will not be forgotten for ten generations.”
The Chinese authorities make no provision for the
wounded. Thus many who would in ordinary circum-
stances have been left to die in the battlefield from
exjxosure and neglect, owe their lives to the treatment
they received in Newchwang. The care bestowed on
them must inevitably tell for good in many directions.
Soldiers are a class in China who have much in their
power to help or mar the missionaries’ influence, and
no one can gauge the benefits that may accrue from
their reports of the kindness they have received at the
foreigners’ hands. No doubt the work done for these
men contributed largely to the safety of the
foreign community during a time of much
anxiety, when fighting was so near that the sound
of cannon could be distinctly heard. When these
soldiers are scattered far and wide over the land, with
hearts softened, and hatred turned into respect, they
will doubtless ofttimes, in ways they themselves little
understand, be used as the instruments for helping on
the establishment of the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Surely here again we can trace the gracious dealings
of the Lord, who even through the clouds and darkness
112
^torn of our Pmulnmu Utissiou
of war leads His servants to bring forth fruit to His
glory, and establishes the work of their hands.
The Japanese gained possession of the port of New-
chwang on the 6th of March. Happily no resistance
was made by the Chinese ; and though severe fighting
took place in the neighbourhood shortly afterwards, the
foreign community had no longer anything to fear, as
one of the first steps taken by the Japanese was to secure
the safety of all the foreigners. Immediately after the
proclamation of peace, the missionaries made
a representation to Her Majesty’s consul,
requesting permission to proceed into the
interior. On 15th July a despatch was received from
Pekin, in virtue of which the consul was able to issue
passports. Boats were quickly hired, and with glad
hearts the missionaries bade farewell to the scene of
their captivity.
Proclamation
of peace.
CHAPTER XIII
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONVERTS
A
Church,
has to
The bond
which unites.
MARKED characteristic of the native
Christians in Manchuria has been the
way in which they have recognised the
bond which unites them to the home
In order to understand its significance, one
remember the gulf which exists between a
Chinaman and a foreigner. To the ordinary
Chinaman, the foreigner is a man to be
despised. What can he have to say that is
worth listening to by those who are the custodians of
the wisdom of the sages ! Even to the simple, ignorant
people, who do not argue in this way, there is at first a
great separation. The foreigner’s language, dress, cus-
toms, modes of thought, are all strange ; but when the
fatherhood of God is recognised, the brotherhood that
binds those who are one in Christ Jesus quickly springs
up in Chinese hearts. Hatred not only disappears, but
differences are forgotten, and the love of grateful hearts
goes out to those in the foreign land who have sent to
them the Word of life.
A token of this was sent home in 1888 in the form of
a Chinese epistle : “ Respectfully presented by the
Presbyterian Church of Manchuria of the right religion
of Jesus to the Presbyterian mother Church of Scotland,
8
114
Sjjtotg of our Iflairtljtma ^fission
to set forth the praise of the Lord.” This epistle begins
hy asserting that “ truth is not selfishly
episti^8 private. Through the close investigation of
ancient times, we find that the proclama-
tion of the doctrine of heaven was not unknown in
Flowery China. We acknowledge the value of the Six
Classics and the Four Books; but how could Confucius
and Mencius repair the ruins of man’s heart 1 Happily
Heaven has not forsaken the Flowery Nation, though
the Lord of Salvation was horn in Judea, and at length
the doctrine, able to make all under heaven one family,
has entered the Central Flowery Land.”
The self-sacrificing labours of “ Pastor Ross ” are then
related, and the condition of the country before his
coming is thus described : “At that time Manchuria
had not yet heard the name of Jesus. Men esteemed
only reputation as profit. They paid attention to robes
and hats ; they did not seek to crystal - clear their
hearts. Now all is changed : there are about a thousand
who have been baptized. The revilers of the truth are
day by day decreasing ; those embracing the truth are
day by day increasing. The congregation has the
appearance of daily-growing prosperity ; the converts
exhibit a daily enlarging zeal. Finally, many have
turned their backs on their old dispositions. The rigor-
ous and fierce are become gentle ; the proud and con-
ceited are become humble ; the deceitful and lying have
learned truthfulness. Other qualities retained have been
modified. The vulgar and rude have become sincere ;
the crafty and cunning have become wise and discern-
ing ; the grasping have become unyieldingly strict.
Whether originally wise or stupid, virtuous or other-
wise, all have to a larger or lesser extent become new.”
The epistle goes on to express wonder that in little more
(EIjmrarieristtts of the (Eonbcrts
115
than ten years these changes should have been brought
about by the Jesus’ religion, and concludes with grateful
acknowledgments to the home Church for the inestim-
able blessing brought to the land.
Perseverance is one of the leading characteristics of
the Chinese. For the most part they plod on patiently
and doggedly in the ruts trodden by their
Perseverance o o
ancestors for ages, performing with diligence
the work given them to do. This characteristic, when
sanctified, has proved very fruitful in the spread of the
gospel in Manchuria ; men who have found Christ, not
only intensely desire to see others brought to Him,
but work ofttimes with long patience for that end.
The story of Hou will illustrate this. Hou’s home
was in Tsu-yu-to, a village beyond the road leading
north from Moukden into Mongolia. He was joint-
owner with his brother of a smith’s shop in Moukden,
and it was in that city that he first heard the gospel
message, and was baptized in 1887. Immediately after
his baptism he went back to Tsu-yu-to to
story of Hou. maj,e ]-nown tdie glad tidings, but was
treated with scorn and contempt. Hou did not despair,
but patiently continued in his attempts to win souls for
Christ. At last he succeeded in interesting one who
was a much better scholar than himself, and induced
him to go to Moukden for further instruction, where he
too became a believer and was baptized.
All this time Hou’s own family remained obdurate ;
and, longing greatly that they might find the joy and
peace so precious to himself, he brought another member
from Moukden to plead with them. Just then there
was brought into the family circle a Christian bride
from Moukden, who proved to be a fearless evangelist.
Her efforts and Hou’s prayers had a wonderful effect,
116
J&torg of our $$tmuljuria Iftisgiou
and one after another of the family became applicants
for baptism. The wife of one of the sons was so much
in earnest, that she went from house to house in the
village till all had heard the good news, and not a few
in neighbouring villages also heard the message of love
from her lips. When Dr. Ross went to Tsu-yu-to he
found twenty-nine ready for baptism. Added to those
there were four infants, making a total of thirty-three
who received the sacred rite. Twenty-four of these
belonged to Hou’s family, with ages ranging from that
of the old great-grandmother down to Hou’s infant
grandson.
The unselfishness of the converts comes out in strong
relief when contrasted with the selfishness which seems
to be inborn in most Chinese, a character-
istic painfully apparent in the everyday life
of the people. A cart sticks in the mud, plenty of
strong shoulders are around, but one looks in vain
for the willing one to take its place at the wheel.
“ Why should I trouble myself with the affairs of
another?” is too often the rule by which a Chinaman
is guided. But all this is changed when he becomes a
Christian. The naturally cold, selfish heart wells over
with love, and becomes willing to do and dare for others
for Christ’s sake.
A striking proof of this was given by Liu at Liao-
yang, when he showed truly Christlike devotion in his
attempt to save Mr. Wylie’s life at the risk
Liu s devotion. ^ p-g own> When Mr. Wylie was beaten
down by the blows of the murderous soldiers, Liu spread
himself over his pastor’s prostrate body that he might
receive the blows in his stead. He was dragged away,
but the spirit of love which prompted his action proved
the mighty change in that man. — “ Greater love hath no
(Cljararimsiics of flje Conbcrfs
117
Chinese
backbone
man than this, that a man lay clown his life for his
friend.”
The solidity and backbone of the Chinaman, which
render him strong and steadfast when once he is con-
vinced, have proved a splendid foundation
on which to build the fabric of grace. The
Christians in Manchuria have been called
upon in not a few instances to suffer persecution, and
yet, when danger threatened, they have not wavered in
their loyalty to Christ. The landlord of an inn, in a
village near Tieh-ling, recently made a good confession.
Anti-Christian rumours were rife, and it must have been
most disquieting when one day a hand of soldiers arrived
at the inn and demanded the names of those of the
family who were Christians. The old man had not then
been baptized, hut he calmly replied, “ Some of the
family are so young that they have no names, hut you
may put us all seven down as Christians.” The son, an
earnest Christian, was overjoyed at this bold confession
of his father ; he himself had been driven from school
because he would not pay his devotions to the tablet
representing Confucius. Dr. Ross baptized the whole
family, and the father, in speaking of the troubles which
might be in store for his countrymen, said, “ It is im-
possible but that the wind will blow, and when it blows
the chaff is driven away, but the good grain remains.”
Then he added, “ If necessary, it were easy to shed one’s
blood for one’s Saviour.”
Tang, a Liao-yang man who had been refused baptism
no less than three times for want of sufficient knowledge,
was recently seized by a band of soldiers
Tanss and bound hand and foot. A sword was
courage.
held to his throat, and the question was
asked, “Are you a believer in Jesus?” “Yes,” was the
118
J^torg of our Pmitjnmii $fUssioit
bold reply ; “ I am a Christian.” After a time lie was
released. On the following Sabbath, when he came to
worship, the preacher Li asked him how he, having such
a short experience of the Christian life, could witness so
boldly in the presence of death. Tang’s beautiful answer
was, “I have just been reading how Peter denied his
Master, and afterwards went out and wept bitterly ; and
how could I deny my Lord 1 ” Tang will not again have
to ask in vain for baptism !
The generosity which leads to liberal giving is not a
striking feature in the Chinese, so that the liberality
L'berai'ty which many of the Christians display is all the
more a matter for thankfulness. In consider-
ing this, it must be remembered that the great majority
of the members are poor ; with enough for their own
needs, they have little to give away. But from the first
the duty of Christian giving has been kept before them,
and God Himself has taught the lesson to not a few. In
the days when the Moukden members met for worship
in an old shop in a back court, a gathering of believers
was held to consider the question of supporting one of
themselves to preach the gospel in the towns and villages
beyond Moukden. After one of the members had spoken
in a strain somewhat inclined to damp the ardour of the
meeting, there rose in the back of the hall a man whose
well-worn cotton robes indicated that he was poor. He
found great difficulty at first in giving vent to the strong
feeling under which he was labouring, then he exclaimed,
“ Brethren, we ourselves have been saved through the
grace of God, and we cannot stand by and see our
brethren perish in their ignorance. We must send our
messenger to tell them of a Saviour able to save and
bless them. Put me down for jive strings.”
This was the first acquaintance the missionaries had
(Kjpratierisfus of tjje Coubcrts
119
with Tung-Yu, and they found that his subscription
meant to him a full week’s wage. His story
Tung-Yu. ° J
proved to be deeply interesting. A friend
having come to Moukden to learn about the Jesus’ doc-
trine, Tung followed in order to try and save him from
the foreigner and his evil doctrine. On his arrival he
was told he would find him at the preaching-chapel at
the North Gate. He found the chapel and his friend,
hut to his surprise it was no foreigner who was preach-
ing, but one of his own countrymen ; so, somewhat
appeased, he sat down to listen. Drawn as by a power-
ful magnet, he went again and again, till he found Jesus,
and believed with his whole heart. Tung-Yu’s Christian
life has been full of fruitful service, and he is now a
faithful and efficient evangelist in one of the valleys to
the north of Moukden.
Christian forbearance has been frequently exemplified
by the converts, and this again shows the change wrought
by grace, for the Chinese are not naturally
Forbearance ^ ^
meek under provocation, but are quick to
seek revenge through litigation or other means. Old
Chiao of Yen-tai was a striking example of what the
gospel effects in this way. When he became a Christian
he was the headman of the town, collecting the Govern-
ment taxes and transacting legal business. Before his
conversion he was known as a man of strong passions,
and unable to bear the smallest insult. When he em-
braced Christianity, an influential man in the town
became his implacable foe, and so stirred up opposition
against him that he was obliged to resign his official
post. Personal violence, false charges, and legal pro-
ceedings followed, all of which Chiao bore meekly.
His changed conduct was too marked to pass unnoticed,
and it soon produced a wonderful effect in favour of
120
J$lm'|i of our $fl mu burnt fltissioii
Christianity, even his worst enemies acknowledging the
power of the Jesns’ religion, which had worked in Chiao
the remarkable change from ferocity and revenge to
patient enduring of unjust suffering.
The wliole-heartedness of the Christians is worthy
of note. When their eyes are opened, like the
disciples of old, they see “no man save
heartedness. Jesils onty-” % great tlie contrast here
to those who have been wont to lean for
safety on a complex mingling of Confucian, Buddhist,
and Taoist beliefs ! The reply given to Dr. Ross by a
woman at Kai-
yuen voices the
attitude of many
of the converts.
When deprecat-
ing her ignorance,
she said, “But I
know one thing,
with my whole
heart I trust in
Jesus as my Sav-
iour.”
The boldness
and earnestness
of the majority
of the converts
have been, as the
whole story of the
Mission shows,
one of their chief
characteristics
CHRISTIAN PEASANTS. from thft r s t.
They have feared not to raise the banner of the Cross,
Cljarartcrislits of % Contorts
121
and declare the whole counsel of God to friend and foe
alike, beginning usually with those of their
earnestness*1 own household. For one of the most hope-
ful signs of the work is, that the spread of
the gospel has been in great measure a family movement.
This is specially true of the villages, it having been
found in many instances that, when the Spirit of God
lays hold of a man, the members of his family are usually
won for Christ; and when the patriarchal size of the
Chinese family is taken into account, the importance of
this feature of the Mission will be realised.
The weak, the feeble, the ignorant, the erring, are no
doubt within the pale of the Manchurian Church, — the
wheat and the tares grow there together, as in other
lands, until the harvest,-— but the preponderance of
the good grain, and its power of yielding increase,
affords bright promise of a glorious harvest yet to be
gathered in.
CHAPTER XIY
WORK IN THE KOREAN VALLEYS
;N tracing the history of the Mission, we find our-
selves carried beyond the boundaries of Man-
churia into the peninsula of Korea, which lies
to the east. In 1873, Dr. Ross resolved to make
a journey in the direction of Korea, and get as near the
Hermit Nation as was then practicable, with the object
of seeing what could be done to introduce the gospel.
Journey to Starting from Newchwang, he reached what
Korean is known as the “ Gate ” of Korea in seven
> lc days. Here every obstacle was put in the
way of his farther progress. He was not allowed to
cross the river Ya-lu, and enter the forbidden land.
He found that there were officers stationed at stated
distances all along the river, to prevent any person
crossing the frontier by day or night. He could not
even hire a boat to sail on the river, in order to get
a better view of the unknown country. A friendly
Korean, however, accepted a copy of the Scriptures
and some tracts in Chinese, and freely lent it to his
friends. As a result of this, two Koreans found their
way to Newchwang at the season when, according to
custom, the “Gate” or official barrier was declared
open, and intercourse between Korea and China was
allowed to natives. They went to learn more of the
122
®orR hr % Jtormr $ allege
123
Second.
journey.
“ doctrine,” and from that time interest in Christianity
began to appear.
Other Koreans came for instruction to Moukden;
but before the arrival of these men, Dr. Ross had
made a second journey to the Korean
“ Gate,” in order to try and learn the
language. The laws, however, forbidding
all intercourse with foreigners were so severe that he
found it impossible at first to get any assistance.
The people even denied having any language or
literature of their own, so afraid were they of the con-
sequences if they replied truthfully to the foreigner’s
questions regarding their country. But God, who
was clearly leading His servant, provided a teacher
in an unexpected way, “ stormy wind fulfilling His
word ” in this instance. A merchant was conveying
his goods across the river, when a sudden squall upset
the boat, and his merchandise went to the bottom. Find-
ing himself a ruined man, and hearing of the foreigner’s
desire and his willingness to recompense a teacher well,
Korean he offered to give Dr. Ross lessons, provided
language they were given by night and at some
acquired. distance off. With this help Dr. Ross soon
acquired a knowledge of Korean, and began at once to
turn it to account by commencing the translation of the
New Testament.
When Dr. Ross came home on furlough in 1879, he
brought with him the Four Gospels, Acts, and Romans.
During his absence, Mr. Macintyre took up
translated the ■ti'anslntiorL work enthusiastically, with
the help of four Koreans. The Bible
Society of Scotland cordially agreed to give a grant
towards the printing. Individual friends were also raised
up to help ; one donor providing the means to print
124 S'torg of one $$tanxl]uria Hfissioit
3000 copies of the Gospels of Luke and John. A very
striking link in the chain of providence conies to light
at this stage. Just when the first edition of the Gospel
KOREANS.
in Korean was ready, the long night of Korea’s isolation
and seclusion came to an end, the publication of the
American Treaty with Korea being well-nigh simul-
taneous with the publication of the Word of God in the
®orIi hr the Jtorean $aIUgs
125
language of the people. For though the Japanese had
succeeded in making a treaty with Korea in 1875,
which permitted them to open three ports for the pur-
poses of trade, the American Treaty, in 1882, was the
thin end of the wedge which broke down Korea’s
attitude of seclusion towards the West, Britain and
the other Powers securing similar treaties shortly after-
wards.
Some of the first Korean Gospels that were pub-
lished were sent by the National Bible Society to
Korea by way of Japan, and it is interesting to record
that it was a Japanese Christian who was the first to
carry the Scriptures into Korea proper ; and, strange
to say, he and the message of peace and goodwill to
men were borne to Korean shores by a Japanese man-
of-war ! He succeeded in setting up Bible-depots in
the open ports, from which the Scriptures might be sent
over the country.
Meanwhile the work of translating and printing had
been carried on vigorously at Moukden. Several
Koreans had been baptized, and there was no difficulty
in getting as many as were required for the translation
work to take the seven or eight days’ journey from
their native valleys to Moukden. The first
baptized163"11 K°rean baptized was a man who had acted
as compositor. As soon as another man was
secured to do his work, Dr. Ross gave him a supply of
Gospels and tracts, and sent him home to act as a col-
porteur among his friends. This man was a native of
one of the numerous valleys which lie on the Man-
churian side of the Korean frontier, and which are
almost entirely peopled by Koreans. Some months
after, he returned to Moukden with the good news that
he had not only sold all his books, but that a number
126
^torg of our Hlautljurra Iflbstou
of people were so much impressed by what they had
read, that they were desirous of baptism. Provided
with a fresh supply of Gospels, he went back again to
the valleys, and ere long returned to herald the same
good news, that hearts were being touched by the Spirit
of God.
During the years 1882 and 1883, thousands of Gospels
and tracts found their way to the Korean valleys
through Manchuria. About this time another link in
the providential chain becomes visible. A rebellion had
taken place in Korea, a conservative party having risen
against the introduction of foreigners. They were over-
come by those in favour of progress, but not before
many had been killed and others exiled. One of these
exiles, a man with a high literary degree, came across a
colporteur during his wanderings. He became interested
in the contents of the books he purchased,
thePvaiiey s ^ an<^ T)_y and by found his way to Mouk-
den, where he was baptized shortly after-
wards, and returned to the valleys as an unpaid
evangelist. The training of the Christian Koreans had
not been overlooked : classes were held for them, in
order to fit them for future service. One evangelist
had already begun work in Korea proper. When he
began to sell religious books he was imprisoned, but
was released after three months’ confinement ; and
although he was not allowed to open a chapel or preach
in the streets, his colportage work was not further
interfered with.
Other exiles, besides the one already referred to,
turned up in Moukden to inquire about Christianity,
and became believers ere they left. These
refugees, as well as the colporteurs, brought
such reports from the valleys as to lead to the belief that
Mark in % Korean ©allegs
127
a remarkable religious awakening was at hand ; so, in
order to investigate the matter, Dr. Ross and Mr.
Webster started on a journey in the December of 1884.
The travelling proved somewhat adventurous, many
difficulties in the way of crossing high mountain passes
and frozen rivers having to be overcome. When the
missionaries reached the first Korean settlement, a warm
welcome awaited them. Thirty men had been deputed
to meet them, and they were taken to the principal
house and hospitably entertained.
They found that in the first valley the people were very
enthusiastic about the new doctrine. The examination
of candidates was cheering, twenty were
th^vaUeys ^ baptized, and in the evening ten more
farther up the valley received the ordin-
ance. The next day the missionaries went on to the
second valley, where twenty-five men were admitted
to the Church, and where they found the Christians
were about to build a chapel for themselves. Other
two valleys were visited, and, including all, seventy-five
souls were added to the Church by baptism, while in
the case of many others it was deemed expedient to
delay administering the sacred rite. The missionaries
were deeply impressed, and, as Mr. Webster expressed
it, they could but “ stand still and see the salvation of
God.”
Truly this movement is a remarkable proof of the
gospel’s power, when the origin and progress of the
movement are taken into account. Ko missionary had
ever entered these valleys ; Gospels and tracts had been
the silent preachers, combined with the witness-bearing
of the few colporteurs who had been brought to Christ
in Moukden. Unfortunately, a trying persecution against
the Christians broke out the following year. It was the
128
Sdorjr of our plancburia Ulissioit
work of tlie Chinese landlords, who hired men to attack
the converts and destroy their property.
Persecution. _ „ n __ , , ,
VV hen JJr. Ross and Mr. W ebster returned
in the spring of 1885, they found the position of the
Christians so trying, that they quietly withdrew at
once, for fear their presence would rouse fresh prejudice
and lead to further disaster. The work of grace, how-
ever, still goes on in these far-off valleys, hut the ever-
increasing claims of the work in Manchuria make it
impossible that our missionaries can take the long,
fatiguing journey, with all its manifold difficulties of
travel, except at rare intervals.
Several Missionary Societies, chiefly American, have
entered Korea. The labours of our missionaries pre-
pared the way in no small measure for
prepared them, not only by the translation work, but
through converts who had returned to their
own land from Manchuria, and who had been the
means of bringing in others of their countrymen.
When Dr. Ross visited Seoul, the capital, he was re-
ceived by a missionary of the American Presbyterian
Mission. That very evening a meeting was held for
the formation of the first Christian Korean congregation.
Thirteen of those present were the converts of a man
who had been baptized in Moukden. Thus one soweth,
and another reapeth, but in the Lord’s presence, who
giveth the increase, the workers will rejoice together !
CHAPTER XY
A LOOK BACK AND A LOOK FORWARD
T a meeting held in Xewchwang in 1892,
the British consul paid a high compliment
W to our Mission in reference to the policy
of conciliation which had distinguished
it from the beginning. It is of paramount importance
that the foundation principles laid down at the com-
mencement of any mission work should he
Mission ^ °m on lines adapted to the social customs
and conditions of the people who are to
be evangelised. Therefore, when the suspicion and
hostility to foreigners evinced by the Chinese are
taken into account, the wisdom of a policy which
bears affront and opposition rather than seek help
from either Chinese or foreign authorities, comes out in
strong relief. It is in the midst - of opposition and
threats that the conciliatory spirit appears most like the
Master’s, who, “ when He was reviled, reviled not
again : when He suffered, He threatened not.”
There is no doubt that this principle is one of the
strong foundation pillars on which our Mission rests.
Only in extreme cases has the arm of the
law been leant on, and everything has been
done to show the people that the missionary is no
political agent, an idea which is not easily eradicated
9
Conciliation.
130
^lorjr of our ^Taucljuria fission
from the Chinese mind, owing to the actions of the
Roman Catholic priests, who too often act as a shield
to their members, and take part in litigations. The
policy of our Mission has been to respect Chinese ideas
of propriety and etiquette, and in no unnecessary way to
go contrary to harmless prejudices. It has also sought
to uphold the authority of the Chinese Government
officials.
What have been the consequences? The enmity of
thousands has been changed to friendly feeling ; even
the official class have, as a rule, shown con-
Consequences .
fidence and respect ; and, greatest triumph of
all, it has been one of the indirect means of leading
many to inquire the way of salvation, and has had no
small share in the rapid growth of the Church through-
out Manchuria.
The success that has attended our Manchuria
Mission rests on another strong pillar. The unfolding
of its story bears ample proof of the wisdom of the
policy which has sought to use native evangelists as the
main instruments in securing the effectual spread of
Christianity among the Chinese. We have seen how,
from the early days of the Mission, when Dr. Ross had
daily meetings with the first few members, reading and
explaining to them the Scriptures, on to the
converts °f present time, the training of the converts in
the study of the Bible has held a prominent
place. Many of the senior members are now able
instructors of others, while some even of the members
who cannot read have proved to be more than a match
for literary opponents when a controversy has ensued.
The ablest missionaries throughout China affirm that
a well-instructed native Christian is a far more efficient
evangelist to his fellow-countrymen than any foreigner
% |Tooh ^acli anb a |Took Jhrfoarb
131
A native
agency.
can ever be ; certainly, those Missions which have done
most in training and sending forth native preachers
have the largest number of converts. As
the native agency rises to prominence, the
missionary’s work, far from lessening, grows
more exacting. Serious demands are made on all his
gifts for organisation and leadership, and perplexing
problems have to be faced. He is building for the
long future, and facing the time when the people,
quickened by the Spirit of God, will be able to walk
in the paths of righteousness, unled by him. The
founding of the Church, the moulding of its high
purposes, and the direction of its advance, have all to
be in accord with this aim. Thus, while the foreign
missionary wisely marshals for the campaign against
idolatry and superstition as large a native force as
possible, to him belongs the great work of counselling
and encouraging these men, planning and mapping out
their work, and quietly leading them on to fresh efforts
and nobler aims. The highest and best gifts are re-
quired for this service : God and the work alike, claim
such.
With our own Mission staff soon to be reinforced, and
with considerable additions being made to that of the
Irish Mission, a prospect of ever-increasing
Christian influence is opening up for Man-
churia. A strong Mission, presenting a united front to
the Chinese, is instinct with hope ; and though the evil
effects of war may be felt in some directions for many a
day to come, they cannot stay the progress of the in-
coming light nor impede the purposes of the Almighty.
To the unbelieving question, Do Missions pay ?
the story of the Manchuria Mission replies with no
uncertain sound. “0 thou of little faith, wherefore.
Prospects.
132
$toru of our Pancburia $pssicw
didst thou doubt 1 ” Have not our eyes seen and our
ears heard the great things God hath wrought ? Thus
the keynote struck by the dying Burns must be the one
with which we close : “ God will carry on the good
work.” Truly a note of faith which will become ever
more a note of triumph, till at last it swells into
the great victory song : “ Alleluia, for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth.”
APPENDIX
1841.
1842.
1851.
1857.
1858. June 26.
1862. May.
1863. Feb. 2.
1864. April.
1867. Oct. 6.
1868. April 4.
1870.
First Opium War.
Treaty of Nanking, which made the first breach in
China’s wall of seclusion.
Beginning of Tai-ping Rebellion, which lasted for
fourteen years.
Second Opium War.
Treaty of Tien-tsin signed.
Synod approached regarding the commencement of
Mission work in China — gives consent.
Appointment of Dr. William Parker to Ningpo.
Dr. Parker died at Ningpo.
Dr. John Parker begins work at Ningpo.
Rev. William Burns lands at Newchwang.
Death of the Rev. William Burns at Newchwang.
Appointment of Mr. Lewis Nicol as an unordaiued
evangelist to Ningpo.
Commencement of work in Chefoo.
Arrangement made with Bible Society to share the
services of the Rev. Alexander Williamson.
1871.
1872.
Appointment of Dr. William A. Henderson to
Chefoo.
Massacre at Tien-tsin.
Synod appoints deputation to confer with the British
Government regarding the protection of mission-
aries in China.
Appointment of the Rev. John Maeintyre to Chefoo.
Legal toleration of Christianity more firmly estab-
lished in China.
Appointment of the Rev. John Ross to Chefoo.
Commencement of work in Manchuria.
Rev. John Ross and Mrs. Ross go to Newchwang.
Mission wound up in Ningpo.
Dr. John Parker resigns.
133
134
gjippntbu-
1872.
1873.
1874.
1875.
1876.
1877.
1878.
1879.
1880.
1881.
1882.
1883.
1884.
1885.
1886.
1887.
Mr. Lewis Nicol goes to Chefoo, but shortly after
resigns on account of health.
Mar. 31. Death of Mrs. Ross at Newchwang.
Mr. Ross travels to the Korean “Gate.”
Commencement of work at Wei-Hsien in Slian-tung.
Marked advance in Manchuria : the Church founded
with a membership of thirteen.
Mr. Macintyre joins Mr. Ross in Manchuria.
Work begun in Moukden by the evangelists Wang
and Tang.
Work begun in Hai-cheng.
Famine in North China and in Southern Manchuria.
Appointment of Miss Martin and Miss Doig to
Chefoo.
Resignation of Miss Martin and Miss Doig.
Rev. John Ross goes home on furlough, taking the
Gospel in Korean with him.
Eleven Koreans under instruction at Moukden.
Appointment of Dr. A. Macdonald Westwater and
the Rev. Alexander Westwater to Chefoo.
Appointment of Miss Barbara M. Pritty.
Appointment of the Rev. James Webster and Dr.
Dugald Christie to Manchuria.
Boarding-school for girls opened at Moukden.
America’s Treaty with Korea signed.
Publication of the Gospel in Korean.
Commencement of work in Liao-yang.
Medical Mission work begun in Moukden.
Remarkable awakening and baptisms in the Korean
valleys.
Death of Old Wang.
Commencement of work in Tieh-liug.
Concentration of work in Manchuria.
Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Westwater and Dr. and
Mrs. A. M. Westwater transferred to Manchuria.
Dr. Williamson devotes his time to the production
and circulation of a Christian literature for China.
Blind Chang converted.
Opening of work in the district of Tai-ping-kou.
Aug. 24. Death of Mrs. Williamson.
Great floods and subsequent famine in Manchuria.
Feb. 18. Death of the Rev. Alexander Westwater.
Mrs. Alexander Westwater decides to remain in
Manchuria, and is appointed a missionary,
135
1887. Appointment of the Rev. James A. Wylie.
„ Erection of hospital in Monkden.
1888. More serious floods : dire distress.
,, Work begun in Kai-yuen.
,, Appointment of Dr. Thomas M. Young.
1889. Erection of church in Moukden, opened on 22nd
October.
1890. Sept. 2. Death of the Rev. Alexander Williamson, LL.D., at
Chefoo.
,, Aug. 5. Death of Mrs. Young at Moukden.
., Appointment of the Rev. Daniel T. Robertson.
,, Appointment of the Rev. George Douglas.
,, Appointment of Miss Struthers and Miss Wilson.
,, Union with Irish Presbyterian Mission.
1891. April 14. Death of Mrs. Christie at Bothwell.
„ Dr. and Mrs. West water remove from Hai-clieng to
Liao-yang.
,, Mr. Robertson and Dr. Young take a journey to
prospect the Sungari district.
,. Resignation of Miss Wilson.
,, Appointment of the Rev. James W. Inglis.
,, Appointment of Miss Eliza C. Inglis.
,, Conference at Moukden.
, , Formation of native Presbytery.
,, Appointment of Dr. David C. Gray.
1892. Miss Struthers resigns, and is married to the Rev.
George Douglas.
,, May. First meeting of native Presbytery.
,, Opening of new station at Shuang-cheng-pu in Sun-
gari district. Dr. Young and Mr. Robertson
appointed pioneers.
,. Work begun at A-shili-ho, Sungari district.
,, Opening of hospital in Liao-yang.
„ Miss Inglis resigns, and is married to Dr. Christie.
,, Appointment of Miss M. J. Sinclair.
,, Mrs. Alexander Westwater begins work in Liao-yang.
Training home for Bible-women and small hospital
for women opened in Liao-yang.
1894. Inauguration of new Theological Training Scheme for
Chinese evangelists.
Proposal agreed to that Mr. Webster should open up
a new centre at Kai-yuen as soon as practicable.
,, Aug. 1. Japan’s declaration of war with China.
,, Aug. 10. Rev. Jas. A. Wylie attacked by soldiers in Liao-yang.
13G
S^penbu-
1894. Aug. 10.
., Dee.
„ Dec.
1895. Mar. 6.
1890.
Death of the Rev. James A. Wylie.
Mrs. West water resigns.
Appointment of Dr. Kate K. Paton.
Appointment of Miss Emily C. Jones.
Appointment of Miss Mary S. Davidson.
Appointment of Dr. Mary C. Horner.
Appointment of the Rev. John M. Macfie.
Appointment of the Rev. Janies Stobie.
The missionaries leave the interior and take up
residence at the port of Newell wang.
Red Cross work begun among wounded soldiers at
Newcliwaug.
The Japanese take possession of the port of
Newchwang.
Miss Sinclair resigns, and is married to Dr. C. Gray.
Proclamation of peace.
Appointment of Dr. D. D. Muir.
Appointment of the Rev. J. Miller Graham.
Appointment of Dr. J. M. Grieve.
STATISTICS FOR YEAR ENDING 31st OCTOBER 1894.
Members.
Candidates.
Baptisms.
Hai-cheng
115
16
Chin-tsai-kou .
66
4
Da-shi-chiao .
135
34
Liao-yang
188
4
22
Moukden
822
80
72
Tieli-ling
252
100
51
Kai-yuen
495
100
70
Mai-mai-kai .
248
50
23
Sungari ....
20
2341
334
292.
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
MIS SION MAP OF MANCHURIA.
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